True Nature
by m7707
Summary: An expert in vampire psychology, Dr. Bella Swan is assigned to the Institute's most intriguing captive to date: Edward Cullen. But who is studying whom? AU
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

"Dr. Swan?"

My assistant, a young college graduate named Michael Newton, called my name from the doorway. Looking up from the screen of my laptop, I made an attempt to stifle the scowl that threatened. He knew better than to interrupt while I entered my research data unless it was important, so it must have been…important.

"Yes, Mike?" My irritation must have shown despite my best efforts, because he turned red and stammered.

"Oh! Um. I'm sorry for interrupting. I know you said not to, but Dr. Black would like to see you."

I raised a brow in surprise. Dr. William Black was my boss at the Institute. He wouldn't ask to see me, knowing I was close to finishing the last of my data entry, unless it really was urgent.

"Okay, Mike. Thank you. Tell him I'll be right there."

Mike nodded and darted away. I saved my work and reluctantly closed the laptop. I got so caught up in my research and studies it was difficult to switch gears, especially when my most recent findings appeared to be so promising. I consoled myself with the knowledge that the data and observations would still be there when I returned to my desk. William wouldn't request to see me unless he had something significant, and possibly even more interesting, that he wanted to talk to me about.

I made my way through the wide, brightly lit hallway to William's office. His secretary, Sue, smiled a greeting and gestured to the open door.

"He's expecting you, Dr. Swan. Go on in."

"Thanks." I paused in the doorway, knocking on the frame, and Dr. William Black looked up from behind his desk.

His wide, lined face creased in pleasure when he saw me. He pushed his wheelchair out from behind the desk, and I met him halfway across the spacious room.

"Bella. Thank you for coming so quickly." He gripped my hands in his, and I returned the warm, gentle pressure.

"It's no problem, William. What have you got?"

He wheeled smartly in a circle, going back to his desk and picking up a thin file. "We have a new subject, one that's proving very…different."

"Different how?" My interest was definitely piqued.

"Well, it's hard to explain. I'd love to get your opinion on him." He handed me the file.

I opened it on my lap, scanning the pages. It didn't take long, for there was little information printed on the sheets. Finding a full-page photo, I stared in surprise. I was used to the unusual beauty of our subjects, but this—boy? man?—was even more exquisite than most. Intense red eyes gleamed from the paper, his luminescent, pale skin making them even more vivid. Dark, unruly hair echoed the red tone of his eyes, sparking with brilliant fire. Sculpted cheekbones, heavy, brooding brows, full lips, and an angular jaw completed the male splendor of his face. I forced my eyes from the photo and focused on the facts.

"Edward," I murmured, looking questioningly at William, who watched me closely.

"He only gave us his name after some intense negotiation," he informed me with a half-smile.

"Negotiation?" I repeated, shocked.

"I told you he was different. He wouldn't speak at first and absolutely refused to give us any information about himself when he finally did, but then…he wanted something."

"What did he want?" My curiosity ran rampant.

The smile spread across his face. "He wanted books. And music."

My jaw dropped, but I quickly recovered. No subject had ever negotiated with us, let alone for something so…so…civilized. Most demanded their release in no uncertain terms, and when that wasn't granted, became violent and half-crazed. Vampires did not take well to captivity.

The Institute had been studying vampires for over one hundred years, although the past decade and a half had been exceptionally busy. Fifteen years before, a group of vampires decided they no longer wanted to exist in the shadows while the inferior beings they saw as good for nothing other than food had all the freedom and benefits the world had to offer. They'd gone on a rampage to take over the human world and had come very close to succeeding. What they hadn't counted on was the spirit and dogged will of the human race to survive. In the end, it was the vampire race that came close to being exterminated, thanks in a large part to the information gathered by the Institute. My predecessors had figured out a way to kill the immortal, indestructible beings and succeeded in eliminating almost all of the creatures. What few were left remained in hiding, systematically hunted, captured, and studied to flush out and round up the rest.

An expert in vampire psychology, or as expert as any human could be, I'd dedicated my career to learning all I could from and about them. My studies were both frustrating and rewarding as most of the traditional, human methods weren't applicable. They were fascinating creatures. Vampires could stand still as stone for days, weeks, even months if their hunger didn't get the best of them, giving nothing away, all the while their amazing brains worked, analyzed, and calculated. They could think of one million and one things at a time, take in extraordinary amounts of stimuli with their superior senses. They were dangerous, brilliant, and intriguing.

I loved my work.

The only thing I didn't love was the necessity of interacting through a thick, protective barrier. I had been in a room with a vampire, almost face to face, only once in my career. They were deadly—too strong, too dangerous, and too unpredictable—and it was something I never forgot. Lowering my guard for even a split second could mean instant death. Employees of the Institute were very careful, very well trained, but still human. That made us prone to mistakes and prime targets for our subjects, who constantly craved, constantly yearned, for our blood.

Research had found vampires could survive on a diet of animal blood instead of human, although they disdained the source and refused to eat when they were first brought into the Institute. Incapable of starving themselves, their hunger and instinct always overcame their principles and disgust. The creatures resisted at first, but all eventually succumbed. Not only did it change their eye color from red to a deep gold, but it also weakened them. Still far superior in strength and reflexes to humans, it was an advantage, no matter how small. The best times to study them were after they were first brought in and fighting their natural inclinations, half mad with hunger and fury at being captured, and the first time they succumbed to drinking animal blood. Broken, desperate, and reduced to base instinct, their guards were down, their true nature showed, and I gained valuable information just by observing them.

But William was right. That particular vampire, Edward, was different. Calm and self-possessed, never showing frustration, never showing anger or fury at his circumstances or to us, his captors. He refused to speak except when he wanted something, and even then, it was always polite and respectful, if firm and unyielding. He also refused to drink the animal blood, but I knew he would eventually give in, just like they all had.

I spent the first two weeks simply observing him, both in his private room and when he interacted with the other vampire residents of the facility. Our R&D department had developed a clear material that acted as a glass-like barrier, one vampires couldn't break even with their amazing strength. Inches thick, it afforded a surprisingly clear view. Each individual living space, as well as the much larger communal area, had an observation room separated by the barrier, where humans could see and communicate with the vampires through an intercom system. The wall was clear, but when blacked out it served as a one-way screen behind which we could observe without being seen or heard.

Each vampire had its own room that was more a glorified cell, even though William disliked the term. All were equipped with a chair, table, and cot, despite vampires having no need of those comforts. I was always interested to see how the vampires reacted to furnishings, and Edward was no exception. He used the table for his books and digital music player, ignored the chair, but would often sit on the bed, which he pushed into the corner, bringing his knees up to his chest and lowering his forehead, hiding his face, as he listened to music. He would also read in that position, propping the book on his thighs.

In the common area, he sat in the same position in a corner away from everyone until it was time to return to his cell. He never interacted with the others when they were together for community time; in fact, the other vampires went out of their way to ignore him. They weren't hostile or overt, but the snub was obvious. Vampires were not social creatures, preferring a solitary existence rather than pack situations, but the avoidance went beyond that. They interacted with each other, but never with Edward. He sat in the corner with one of his books or his music player, and all the others left him completely alone. It was noticeable and curious. I wanted to know why. Edward's calm, almost regal manner intrigued me, how he seemed to float through his existence, accepting, dealing, but always observing without appearing to pay attention.

As the days passed, his eyes grew black from hunger, his gaze darting to the carts loaded with blood from various animal sources that were wheeled in. He watched the other vampires drink with close scrutiny, the first interest he'd shown in them since he'd been brought to us. After a few more days of that behavior, he would drop his head back against the wall when the carts were brought in, throat working, fists clenching, and I knew it wouldn't be long before he had to drink.

On a hunch, I tried something different. Typically, vampires were only fed in the common room, mostly because of the first-timers, as we liked to call them. It humbled them to give in in front of others of their kind and in front of us, the humans who had captured them. That surrender broke the resistance to their circumstances and gave us a semblance of control and power over the supremely dominant creatures. Edward had proved surprisingly problematic to analyze, even for me, who made it my vocation to evaluate those most difficult of beings, so I decided to try an unusual approach.

He still hadn't been allowed to see me. I'd been observing him behind the blacked-out barrier, as was my custom, until he broke and finally drank the animal blood. I'd found them to be at their most receptive, their most open, at that moment. With that particular subject, I thought it might be best to change my procedure. I noted the tremors in his hands when the blood cart was brought in to the common room, quivers of hunger, desire, compulsion, and frustration, and knew it was time. Vampires weren't used to denying themselves anything, especially food.

I was in the observation room when the door to his cell opened to allow him into the common area. He had been reading, and glanced up resignedly when the click sounded, signaling the release of the lock. A look of surprise flashed across his face, chased by wariness, when a mechanized cart rolled into the room. The expressions were gone in less than an instant, but I'd seen them and made careful notes. It was the most reaction he'd shown since being brought to me—to the Institute.

He glanced thoughtfully at the dark barrier, knowing he was being observed, and then back at the cart. He swallowed as he stared at it and then tipped his head, setting his book down and easing to the side of the cot. Bracing his hands on either side of his thighs, his fingers gripped the frame so hard I heard it creaking through the intercom system. Black eyes flicked to the door and then back to the barrier, head determinedly held high instead of dropping in defeat like I'd seen with so many vampires. He nodded once, regally, as if granting permission or in noble acknowledgement of his downfall. Rising slowly, he unfolded his tall, graceful frame and glided to the metal cart.

Once there, he lifted one of the special bags we had made just for that purpose, bringing it to his face and inhaling. His eyelids fluttered, his fine, straight nose twitched, wrinkling infinitesimally in disgust, but his hunger was too great. He raised the bag, striking swiftly, and I heard his gasping moan. Hunching his shoulders protectively over his meal, he sucked hard, gripping and holding the blood to his mouth. He did the same with the second bag, still bent over it, acting like any starving man would do when offered a plate of food. Relaxing slightly with the third bag, growling a little and slowing slightly, he took time to savor as the sharp, searing pangs of hunger were appeased. The fourth bag he brought to his lips slowly, tearing through the seal with relish, and his eyes opened to focus unerringly on me as he drank. I started, even though he couldn't see me, and watched raptly, caught up in the almost sensual act. I licked my lips as he continued to feed, the soft sucking, growling, and moaning unraveling my clinical detachment.

It wasn't until he had drained the sixth bag that he moved away from the cart to lean against the wall, facing me, facing the barrier. I watched as his eyes swirled, the colors mixing and merging, going from deep black to the color of a sunset, all reds and golds and yellows and something darker, something deeper. The sight was fascinating, strikingly beautiful, and one that never failed to amaze me. The color settled into deep reddish gold as the blood moved through his system.

"Thank you." His voice was deep and soft, like stroking velvet.

The sound startled me, and I jumped, hitting my knee on the control board. One side of his mouth curled up, as if he could hear me banging around in the booth that was soundproofed, even from vampire ears. I stared at him through the darkened glass, considering my next move. Taking a deep breath, I hit the switch that would allow me to communicate with him.

"You're welcome." As my voice filled the small room he occupied, his head tipped and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Although you could have indulged at any time."

"Indulgence," he murmured, and I regretted my choice of words. I typically spoke with great care, always on my guard, not giving the creatures any more insight or information than was absolutely necessary. We never even let them know our names. "Yes. But that wasn't what I thanked you for."

I knew he meant letting him surrender in private. My gamble had paid off, for he spoke to me willingly, initiating the conversation, something he'd refused to do with anyone else.

"You're welcome for that, too."

A full smile broke across his face, and it made him look younger and even more beautiful. It made me want to smile back, so I scowled instead.

"Showing kindness to a vampire—to a captive," he said in that same soft tone, staring intently at the barrier. He couldn't see anything except his own reflection in the dark surface, but I shifted uncomfortably. "You're an unusual woman."

I ignored the comment. "You think it a kindness?"

"Isn't it?" He arched a heavy brow, the corner of his mouth quirking with some private amusement. "Allowing me to indulge my weakness in private? Or is that standard practice?"

I didn't answer his question, but asked one of my own. "Why do you see it as a weakness?"

He shrugged one shoulder, the gesture elegant and enticing. "Drinking animal blood is disgraceful, even if you've given me no choice. To give in, let the need overcome determination…to be helpless in that moment to base physical dictates…" He shrugged again. "They'll know, of course. The others. They'll notice my eyes, but at least they didn't see me…vulnerable."

"And is that important to you? Not being seen as vulnerable?"

His eyes gleamed with interest. "Of course. Isn't it to you?"

I ignored that as well. "You think taking sustenance in order to live makes you vulnerable, Edward?"

"From that source, an animal…yes. And you know we aren't actually living, don't you?" His voice held a mocking, almost teasing, and faintly derisive note, but directed more at himself than me.

I sat back, considering him. He interested me. His stare at the barrier, directly into my eyes, didn't waver.

"You called me Edward."

"Isn't that your name?"

"Yes." That half-smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "It is. You have me at a disadvantage. May I know yours?"

His request was met with silence, and he gave another regal nod of his head, clearly saying_ so that's how you want to play this game_. Sauntering over to the bed, he picked up his discarded book and resumed his usual position. Our impromptu conversation appeared to be over, so I hit the button that would let the others know the cart could be removed.

* * *

**Huge thank you to my wonderful betas Sarahsumbrella and SunKing.**

**Even bigger thank you to you for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

"Good morning, Edward."

He looked up at me from his book, smiling at the opaque barrier. "Is it morning?"

I returned the smile, even though he couldn't see me. "It is. Would you like a clock?"

He considered the question more carefully than it would seem to warrant.

"No," he finally answered. "It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"Do you mind if I interrupt your reading?"

"Do I have a choice?" His voice was gently chiding.

"Of course. I can come back later."

He closed his book and set it aside, draping a forearm across his knees. It was long, pale, and sprinkled with light golden hair.

"Do your worst," he said with a sardonic lift of his brow.

"I'd just like to talk—to ask you some questions."

The brow lifted higher.

"We don't have much information about you besides your name and where we found you."

"Where you took me," he corrected, his soft voice growing hard edges. "Where your soldiers snuck up on me and took me against my will, when I wasn't hurting anyone."

_Hm_. It seemed Edward did have a little temper, after all. "But you do hurt people, Edward. You kill humans. Are we, as a race, supposed to just sit back and allow it?"

That was a question I asked all my subjects. The answers I got were widely varied and always interesting. He stood, leonine, graceful, and yes. Predatory.

"It's how we survive. That's the age-old argument, isn't it? We must kill you to survive, and you must kill us to survive. Not a very good basis for future relations. Anyway." He sat back on the bed, leaning against the wall. Relaxed, amiable, and yes. Still predatory.

"Do you think it's possible for humans and vampires to co-exist? Peacefully? Is that something you'd want?"

"I don't know," he answered seriously. "I don't think it is possible. Not because we don't want it—although there are some who don't and never will. I just don't think it's possible to control our need for blood. It's a basic, primal instinct, one we can't fight. You don't understand the frenzy, the compulsion, the sheer necessity of it."

He shrugged elegantly. I scribbled notes.

"So you were…taken from the Olympic National Forest in Washington. Tell me about that."

"I was." He smiled, offering nothing more.

"Are those your grounds?" Vampires claimed territory and guarded it fiercely.

He just sat on the bed with his maddening smile.

"Have you been there long?"

Again, nothing but silence and that smile.

"We can just sit here and listen to music, if that's what you'd prefer," I offered. "Or I can just keep talking to myself."

"You don't answer my questions when I touch on things you can't talk about or that you want to protect. I'm just taking a page from your book, so to speak."

"What do you have that needs protecting, Edward?"

"Mm." He smiled. "The same thing you do."

"And what is that?"

He ducked his head, but I could see the smile still creasing his cheeks. "Your safety. The safety of those you love."

I sat back and turned his words over in my head. Those he loved? Vampires mated, and that was a kind of love, although not the same kind of devotion humans held for each other. It was more of a biological need, which made it different than humans. Vampire mating was more factual—it just _was_—rather than emotional. But it was also a commitment that lasted as long as the vampires existed, an eternity, much unlike humans.

"Do you have someone you love, Edward? Are you mated?"

He shook his head, keeping it lowered.

"No, not mated." he said softly. "Not yet. But I have those I love. My family."

His family? His _family_? I sat there, stunned.

"You have a family?" I finally asked, trying to keep the incredulity out of my voice.

"I do. I miss them." He finally raised his head, but for once, his face was blank. "But I won't talk about them."

I sat forward, eagerness making me forget my caution. A vampire family. Amazing. Groundbreaking. Vampires were solitary creatures. Covens were occasionally formed for mutual benefit but always for the short term, and the vampires were together out of necessity, not emotion. Not out of love, respect, and choice, like a human family. Not like what Edward described. They didn't _miss_ each other.

"Vampires don't have familial ties," I said in wonder and excitement.

He made no reply, just turned his focus to the floor. Oh, the conniving little monster. He knew that tidbit was guaranteed to get my attention and his vow not to talk about it would garner my frustration. He thought it put him in a strong bargaining position, but I was smarter than that. I wanted the information, the details on an honest to God vampire family, but I would get the information from him eventually without giving up too much.

"I'd like to hear about them," I said, watching him closely.

He just smiled and kept his face averted.

**-o-o-o-o-**

Conversations with the Institute's most interesting subject became my favorite part of the day. When the time I'd allotted to speak with Edward approached, I grew restless with anticipation. He challenged my intellect and curiosity but never satisfied either. It took me longer than I wanted to admit before I came to the conclusion he did it on purpose. He knew full well what I wanted from him for my research, the notes I made behind by blacked-out screen, but he skillfully doled out bits and pieces to whet my interest while balancing my curiosity and compulsion to study him, to talk to him, on a sharp, eager edge, so I would keep coming back. I didn't flatter myself, aware I was the only contact he had, or that he allowed himself, as he still avoided the company of the other vampires. He had to be bored despite the distractions I allowed him in the form of his entertainments, the books, music, and movies.

We spoke of many things, and I often let him distract me from my work, my clinical interest and observation of cataloguing his behavior and plumbing his fascinating mind. I did those things, but he gave me less and less of what I could use for research and more that fed my personal curiosity and soul. He talked for hours about his interests, so closely mirroring my own that I couldn't resist engaging him in debate and discussion. His knowledge wasn't confined to only higher pursuits, but also those more common and less academic. I learned so much, not only about him, but about myself as well, and the subjects we covered. I let him fascinate me too much, too completely, but the less rational part of my mind decided I was allowed such indulgence, as it was so rare that someone challenged me on all levels—intellectually, spiritually, and physically.

Yes, the physical part worried me. I found him attractive—a human would, for that was his basic design. He was made to draw me in, but it was him, not just the pretty package. Even as I knew it was not a smart thing to do, finally having an interest in another being outside my very small personal circle allowed me to convince myself I could handle him. Nothing in my life had ever outwitted me, and I wasn't about to let him be the first.

Dangerous creature, indeed.

Eager to begin our session for the day, I gathered my copious files on the subject of one Cullen, Edward, vampire. In my haste, the top folders slipped off the pile. I bent to grab them, thankful I hadn't been holding my laptop, as well. Snatching the papers up and stacking them on the small computer, I managed to cut my finger on one edge and cursed. Folder paper cuts stung like hell, and I stuck the offended fingertip in my mouth as I clutched my laptop and files to my chest, hurrying down the corridor to Edward's observation room.

I was glad the space was soundproof and the dark barrier in place so he couldn't see my dishevelment. Letting him know he affected me on more than a professional level would be disastrous. He was too clever, and too dependent on his deadly hunting instincts, to let such weakness go unexploited. I took a few precious seconds to get my head in the game, to make sure the scientist was fully in control of all thoughts and actions and my professional defenses were securely in place. Only then did I allow myself to look at his splendid physical form and begin mining his even more attractive mental depths.

Edward wasn't in his usual spot on the bed with his music player or a book on his lap. My heart leapt and pulse thundered as I searched the small confines of the cell to find him in the corner to my right

"Are you okay?" He stood uncertainly, one hand on the back of his neck and appearing rattled for the first time since he'd been at the Institute.

"I'm fine, Edward." I studied him intently. "Why do you ask?"

"You're bleeding," he blurted, his face strained.

I froze, unbelieving, to stare at him. My gaze slowly slid away from his down to my finger, where a bead of bright red blood welled from the paper cut—the folder cut—I'd given myself just a few minutes before in my office. I'd forgotten it in the rush to talk to him, looking forward to our session more than I should. I held it up in front of my face, watching as the drop gathered, swelled, and then ran down the back of my hand. I saw a blur of movement, and then Edward was inches away from the barrier.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice almost harsh. Beautiful face tense, his eyes narrowed, nostrils flared, and broad shoulders heaved with agitated breaths.

I took a startled step back, my breathing rapid and unsteady as well. "Why do you… How did you know?"

"I can smell you," he gritted from between clenched teeth.

Heaving a couple more breaths, he tried to calm himself. I watched in wonder and trepidation as his usual calm, composed demeanor reasserted itself.

"You can…what? You can smell me?" I looked frantically at the barrier, searching for a breach and backpedaling toward the door.

"Yes."

He walked over to the bed and took his customary seat on the bed with no trace of whatever had come over him—oh, God, had it been bloodlust? How the hell could he have known? How could he have smelled my blood through the impregnable barrier?

"How did you smell that?" I asked.

He did that one-shouldered shrug thing, easing back against the wall and bringing his legs up so that his knees were just below his chin.

"Edward. How could you smell that?"

"I don't know," he admitted evenly. "I've always been able to smell you."

My eyes went once again to the barrier, unconsciously searching for a crack, a chip, a break. Something.

"It doesn't do much, as far as blocking your scent," he admitted softly, as if he knew what I was doing, and I gasped.

"Can you—" I swallowed. "Can you see me?"

"No." His eyes searched the blank, glossy black surface of the barrier. I hadn't yet gotten to the point where I had cleared it and allowed him to see through, but could he anyway? "I can't."

"Can you hear me?"

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Of course I can." He rolled his eyes, and suddenly, he was the Edward I was used to. "All you do is talk, talk, talk."

I took a deep breath, realizing my not-bloody hand was clutching my throat. With an internal laugh, I lowered my arm and moved hesitantly back to the chair in front of the control panel. I reached for the canister of antibacterial wipes and cleaned the small wound.

"And here I prided myself on being a good listener," I told him, setting up my laptop. "A talent that seems to be wasted on you."

"I don't consider your talents wasted," Edward admitted in his indulgent voice. "I'm thinking they're quite considerable, from what I know through our talks."

I had the impression he stared at me through the blacked out glass, a sensation I experienced quite often during our time together. When I focused on his still form, his gaze was fixed on his hands. Wide palms, long fingers. A musician's hands, attached to a body that would make Michelangelo weep, a face that would make angels sing. I could forgive myself if my heart skipped a beat when I interacted with him, but his words reminded me I gave too much information by simply engaging him. He returned nothing while absorbing my words, thoughts, and desire to be with him. Learn from him. Be engaged in return. No one, not even William, had been able to challenge me intellectually and tap into the need I had in my soul to share, to be understood. Not to be lonely. And of course it would be a vampire that called out those basic desires, a kindred spirit. Only a few short months ago, I would have considered that highly unlikely, if not impossible. Vampires reverted to a primitive, animal form when they were changed. Edward was the first of his kind to show a higher purpose in his thoughts, feelings, and reasoning. No wonder he intrigued me. He was an amazing research subject, the culmination of my career. Or, he would be if I could maintain my professionalism and do my job.

"Do you have a special talent, Edward?"

Vampires occasionally showed supernatural abilities other than strength and senses. I'd had the opportunity to study some that showed telekinetic powers, also emotive, and on rare occasion, telepathic. The list of what the creatures could potentially be capable of never left my mind, but I hadn't noted any signs of those abilities with Edward. Just his unusual refinement and love of cerebral pursuits rather than any particular ability.

His head ducked, and I thought that if he had been capable of it, he would have blushed. Looked up at the glass through long auburn lashes, his smile was almost shy and definitely self-deprecating.

"Well…no. Not like you mean." He shrugged one shoulder, his eyes darting away and then back to the barrier. "I can play music and and write it. Compose it. Mostly the piano. I'm best on the piano. I can draw a little, too, although I'm not as good at that as I am with music."

He shrugged that shoulder again, and if I hadn't known better, I would have thought it was a nervous, uncomfortable twitch. He was either very good at mimicking humans, putting them at ease with familiar and expected mannerisms, or they were a holdover from his human life, like an ingrained habit. I realized I didn't know how old he was. His file held no information on his age, not how old he'd been when he was changed or how long ago that had happened.

"It's useless, I know," he continued when I didn't speak. "Nothing interesting, like super strength or extra sensory powers."

"Being creative isn't useless," I countered, and then snapped my mouth shut. I didn't know where that had come from. He'd just looked so sad. It was an instinctive urge to comfort him…and _why_? Where the hell had that come from?

He looked up with surprise and curiosity, and as the uncomfortable silence stretched out, a small smile curved his mouth. I tried to cover my lapse by clearing my throat, crossing my legs, and adopting my most professional manner.

"Did you have musical talent before you were turned?"

His eyes studied what he couldn't see for a few more seconds, and I began to worry I'd lost whatever detached, clinical impression I might have had. Eventually, he shrugged, his eyes never leaving mine. Discomfort and the first hint of uneasiness crawled up my spine. He always seemed to sense where I sat and when I studied his face.

"I don't know," he answered. "I don't have any memories of my human life."

"None at all?"

I made notes on my pad, breaking his intense perusal. I wasn't surprised he couldn't remember his human life. It was quite common when the turning had been sudden, unseen, or unexpected. Most vampires retained some memories, most dim and distant, but many did not. I made more notes before looking at him again.

His eyes were striking and a little unnerving, starting to turn gold from his forced diet of animal blood, but they still retained the last stubborn, brilliant ring of crimson around the edges. The effect made them glow and flash as he moved his head or looked around, and it drew my attention like a magnet. I tried to tell myself it was because they reminded me of what he was—a killer, a murderer, a beast—but only explained some of the thrill. Yes, wariness was a part of it, but intrigue and appreciation also factored in, and that scared me more than anything else.

"I miss it." His fingers flexed on his thigh, and again I wondered if it really was an unconscious gesture or if he was just trying to appear more human, more approachable, and draw me in. "Playing the piano, I mean."

He'd used those same words in relation to his family. Vampires were creatures used to instant gratification. They saw no problems in getting what they wanted, when they wanted, with no thought or care for consequences. It was just how they were programmed. No doubt he had the desire to play and was frustrated by not being able to indulge that desire.

"I could have a piano brought to you, Edward. Would you like that?"

His eyes widened in surprise before narrowing thoughtfully. He considered my words, perhaps looking for a trick or ulterior motive, even though he had the ability to analyze, understand, and make decisions in a fraction of a second like all vampires.

"So you can study me?" His voice was slightly bitter and faintly mocking. "So you can get reams of fascinating data about a vampire that can play the piano—that wants to play the piano?"

I tipped my head in acknowledgement. He'd discern the lie if I tried to deny it. "That's most of it. But you said you missed playing, and it's something I can give you."

We both knew it was only a faint concession to what he really wanted, what he said he'd missed in our previous session—his family. I couldn't bring them here, and I certainly couldn't let him go to them.

"Why would you want to do that?" He held my gaze with a serious, faintly quizzical look. Just as I became alarmed he really could see me, he sighed, blinking tiredly, and tipped his head back against the wall. "Why would you want to give me anything?"

I looked down at my pad, and it was my turn to shrug. I realized I lifted only one shoulder—it had been my mannerism he'd mimicked with the gesture earlier.

"It's something new," I said, meeting his eyes directly. The realization made me remember what he was, and who I was. Somehow, he could sense my physical responses, knew where to look to meet my eyes, even through the protection the best scientists and engineers in the world had developed. "Something we've not seen before. It would be new data, like you said, for my research."

"A civilized vampire," he murmured, and I wondered if we both recognized the lie I'd just told. "That's certainly one for the books, right?"

I already knew he was different, the way the other vampires treated him, acted around him, the way he lost himself in the books and music he was allowed. He was like no vampire the Institute had ever studied—an anomaly, an enigma—and that's why he fascinated me.

I wondered if I would allow myself to recognize that lie, as well.

* * *

**3 Sarahsumbrella and SunKing (who has a new story posting right now - Geekward, yay!)**

**Thank you so very much for reading and the reviews and comments. Makes me smile to see so many old and new friends enjoying the story so far.**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

My compulsion to visit Edward, to study him for longer and longer periods of time than the allotted three hours per day, grew steadily more difficult to manage. In order to prove my control over my personal wishes, I denied that which I had come to crave. I took time off, away from my most compelling subject, and instead concentrated on other assignments. I sent my assistant, Michael, in my place for two days straight, until I realized I spent as much time obsessing about Edward whether I saw him or not. I was just obsessed, period. I tossed aside the amateur reports on Michael's sessions, consisting mostly of his observations as Edward refused to speak to him after the first few interactions. Refused to move, as well, it appeared from the detailed account of…pretty much nothing but Michael's increasing frustration and boredom. I snorted a laugh at Edward's antics, and then felt guilty for being amused at the expense of my colleague because of a creature no better, really, than an animal.

And wasn't that a lie.

Increasingly discomfited by my unusual and unexpected feelings, I sought William's advice and counsel. No one was more levelheaded and blunt than my superior. I would lay out everything I'd seen, heard, and done over the past weeks, leaving nothing out to save me from embarrassment, and see where I stood at the end.

"Frankly, I'd be worried if you weren't experiencing some level of attraction." William guffawed at my incredulous expression. "Vampires are programmed at the most basic level to attract their prey—humans. To eat. We're programmed to maintain our existence, to seek shelter, eat, breathe, procreate. Vampires don't need shelter. They don't breathe. They don't even live, really. They certainly don't procreate. The one thing they're designed to do with no other purpose is eat. To do that, they must attract and lure the most skittish, intelligent, and difficult of prey. Humans. He wouldn't be a vampire if he didn't attract you, and you wouldn't be human if you weren't attracted. If I saw a problem with your conduct, reports, or had the slightest concern about your mental state, I would have pulled you in a long time ago, Bella. You're my best and brightest, assigned to their best and brightest that we've found so far. I expect you'll deliver great things."

"Thank you," I murmured, dazed.

I was flattered he thought so highly of me, pressured he expected so much, and above all, relieved. But even that was tempered with another reaction I felt in the recesses of my soul. I was relieved he didn't see anything wrong with my conduct or reaction, but mostly I was relieved I wouldn't have to stop seeing Edward.

Oh, boy.

**-o-o-o-o-**

"Hello, Edward."

He turned his head from where he had been staring at the blank wall, and an expression of true pleasure flashed across his face before it eased into his gentle smile. My stomach fluttered in a very unprofessional way, but I had come to terms with my subject and the reactions he caused, so I let it pass.

"Hello. You were gone the past couple of days."

"Yes. I'm sorry for that."

"Why would you be sorry?" He tilted his head, eyes sparking with amusement and curiosity.

I looked down at my laptop, a warm flush rising in my cheeks. Once again, I was glad for the opaque barrier that hid my responses. When I spoke, my voice was cool with friendly professionalism.

"I take it my assistant was not an acceptable substitute."

He snorted softly. "No. Not at all. He got Milton and Dante confused within the first five minutes he tried to engage me."

"Heathen," I murmured, a smile curving my lips that echoed on his.

"Philistine," he agreed, and we laughed.

"I didn't realize how much I counted on your voice to break the monotony of the hours until you didn't show up for our sessions," he admitted, running a hand through the banked fire of his hair.

"A monotony breaker, huh?" I considered that. "I've been called worse. You're so bored you actually look forward to my incessant badgering and questions? Glutton for punishment, I'd say."

"Your voice is the bright spot I look forward to for twenty-one hours. I'd look forward to it even if I had a choice. I mean, if I wasn't…here."

An uncomfortable silence descended at his referral to his captivity. He was right. He had no choice. I was a poor substitute for his freedom, no matter my stellar conversation skills, but the alternative was a fantasy I'd never been foolish enough to consider—an alternate universe where we could be friends and enjoy each other's company as equals. We were far from equal. He could crush me like an insignificant bug, and not just physically.

"Are you ever going to let me see through that barrier?" he asked suddenly, gaze searching the edges of the dark glass.

"Do you want me to?" I countered after a second.

He did his shrugging thing, the one he'd somehow copied from me. "You can see me whenever you'd like. I must admit to some curiosity, wondering what you look like. I hear your voice every day. I know your thoughts, your tones, some aspects of your personality, but not your appearance."

"Well, how about a little quid pro quo? You tell me about your family, and I'll consider clearing the glass."

His expression didn't change, but his features went from warm curiosity to cold forbiddance. He spun on his heel, his shoulders tensed and then relaxing as he regained his usual calm and walked toward the bed. "Is this some kind of real life version of Hannibal Lecter, Clarice? You study the serial killer, get some insight into his mind? Is that what this is to you?"

I chose my words carefully. He had relaxed, his voice its usual velvet timbre, but I'd roused the monster by mentioning his family. Interesting.

"That's part of it, Edward. You know it is. To humans, you are a serial killer. You eat people. Hannibal Lecter is an appropriate comparison, to be honest."

"Human," he mused. "Humans. To humans, I'm a serial killer. And to you? What am I to you? Do you lump yourself in with the masses of humanity? Is that all I am—we are—to you?"

"I'm human," I whispered.

"You are." The first note of impatience crept into his tone. "And no doubt about it. But you didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine."

"Ask another."

"I want to stay with that one."

"No. My family is off limits. Ask another."

"All right, Edward."

I let it go for the moment and skillfully wove my way around the obstacles he'd erected. I'd try another subject he avoided. Maybe I could get insight to another closely guarded part of him while he was distracted.

"Do you remember being changed?"

He lifted a brow and sent me a smirk, detecting my change of subject and the reason behind it.

"Yes."

"You said you had few clear memories of being human. Is that because the change was unexpected? Against your will or traumatic?"

"Against my will? I was beyond will when Car—When I was changed. And yes. I'm sure you've studied the details. Being changed is definitely traumatic."

"But it isn't always painful. When you bite—feed." I sat forward, studying him intently. It was a subject I was obsessively curious about. We had so little real data, and so few subjects willing to discuss the issue freely.

"No. Feeding isn't always painful for the…food. It can be, but we have the ability to make it pleasant. Forgettable, if we so chose. Traumatic, as you said. Or quite blissful."

"Blissful?"

"Orgasmic." He leered and then laughed. "You're curious."

"Of course. There's not much information on the process."

"No, I don't imagine there is."

"Will you tell me? Can you describe the difference, how you make it so?"

He sat in thought, that maddening half-smile on his face. "I don't think I can."

"Edward—"

"I'm not evading the question. It's just… There are no words to describe it. It's not something that can be explained. I just think it, and it is. If I'm angry, I can make it painful. If I'm hungry, I can make it forgettable. If I'm aroused, well… I can make it absolutely and unequivocally the most amazing experience in your human existence."

His voice had dropped to a husky, intimate whisper. I was on the edge of my seat, gripping the counter in damp hands, clenching my thighs, perspiration dewing my skin as I panted lightly. _Holy shit._

"Does that answer your question?"

I swallowed heavily, and then again.

"Answered, yes," I managed to say smoothly, still gripping the counter until my knuckles were white. "But created so many more."

He laughed. "I imagine so. My turn?"

"Your turn?"

"Quid pro quo." He grinned mischievously. "Do I get to ask you a question?"

I thought carefully before answering. "Yes. But I reserve the right to not answer, just like you."

"Hm." He rose to pace around the perimeter of the room, head bent, appearing deep in thought. I'd bet my precious laptop that he'd formed the exact question he wanted to ask before he'd started playing his little game. He was clever, but so was I.

"You've been studying us for a long time." He didn't phrase it as a question. I kept silent and waited him out, not giving him any freebies, but forcing him to ask. "It makes me wonder."

Again, I said nothing, although I very much wanted to ask what he wondered. And he knew it, the clever little monster.

"I mean, I know your work is important to you. You don't answer questions or let me see you, not yet. But one can tell quite a lot from tone and inflection if one is observant." He gave a negligent shrug. "And I am. So. It makes me wonder what you'd do for the sake of your research. And this is wondering, not asking. Not yet. Do you give up a personal life? Your time, energy, attention, passion? Do you spend it all on your work? So, here it is—my question for you."

He brought his head up and once again looked directly at me through the opaque barrier in that disconcerting habit he had.

"Would you give up your life?"

I sat in stunned silence. Before I knew it, my finger had gone to the button that would cut off the audio feed in automatic self-defense, but I hesitated.

"How do you mean?" It took all my willpower to keep my voice steady and clinical, but I wondered at my success when a faintly triumphant look flickered across his features.

"You can only understand so much from observing, interviewing, talking to your subjects. Isn't experiencing it firsthand the best way to learn?" His voice dropped to a mesmerizing timbre as he stared directly into my eyes. I didn't even question it anymore. "Have you ever considered…that is, have you ever thought… Have you ever wanted to _become_ one of us?"

I drew in a sharp breath and jerked back in my chair. My heart pounded as I stared at his beguiling, alluring face. I was glad—not for the first time—that he couldn't see me.

"Ah." He lowered his eyelids. Long, thick lashes swept the upper arch of his cheekbone. His eyes glittered as he tilted his head back and inhaled, chest expanding, fine nostrils flaring. "That excites you. Interesting."

I realized I was trembling.

He was right. I was excited. And I'd just been played by a master.

* * *

**Said it once before but it bears repeating now - thanks for the beta and support Sarahsumbrella and SunKing.**

**Thank you all for reading. I appreciate the comments, love the speculations, and really enjoy reading the reviews.**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

I wanted to see a master play, not get played, so I made a play myself. The grand piano was delivered to the common area while I was in meetings, and Michael reported that Edward had moved it into his room by himself. During feeding and group time, he ran scales on the fine instrument and performed an impromptu concert before the vampires returned to their cells. Once his door closed, Edward got down to serious business.

Michael handed me a USB drive with reverent care. "It's everything he's played since he's been in the room with the piano. I don't know what it is—I'm not into classical music—but it's the most amazing thing I've ever heard."

I took the drive and glanced at the clock. Edward had been playing for four hours. I tapped the recording against my lip, grabbed my white lab coat, and wrapped my professionalism around me as I went to his observation room.

Little, inconsequential things change lives. Entering the familiar room was the first step off that cliff. Setting my laptop on the counter next to the control board was standard procedure, something I'd done every day of my life for the last couple of months. I opened it as I sank into the chair and settled my gaze on Edward.

The piano was a work of art, a gleaming black beast crouched in the middle of the room, overwhelming, taking over…and obeying the lightest touch from the long, elegant fingers that controlled it with consummate skill. Like a lover, Edward coaxed and enticed with every stroke of hands and dexterous flow of fingers. His shoulders worked, feet moved, bringing forth every nuance and giving the inanimate object a life of its own. I was struck by the insight that both were inanimate objects, not human, not living, but both transformed by virtuosity—the music he brought forth as no one alive could.

My hand reached out to the control board, fingers resting lightly on the rocker switch that opened the audio from his room to the observation area.

I pushed it forward, turning it on, and everything I thought I knew, prided myself on, believed in, was utterly destroyed because of a boy—my captive, a vampire—playing a piano.

What touched my ears wasn't music, mere notes floating through the air and hitting my auditory nerves in a miracle of nature and biology. What came through the audio system was something more, a different kind of miracle. Textured and full, it was alive, fully dimensional. Not just auditory, not sensory, but rich and thick, full, death defying. It cleansed me, crystal clear in its purity and depth, bringing tears to my eyes and a stinging, brilliant pain to my chest. My breath hitched, catching and refusing to complete, not wanting to make the slightest sound that might disrupt the grandeur filling the small, dreary room and transforming it into an opulent feast for the senses.

It was so hauntingly lovely, so beautifully mesmerizing, that I felt it in every part of my body—the caress of it on my skin, joy in my head, sorrow in my heart, burning tingles between my legs, lifting in my soul. I sagged in my chair, glorious tears streaking down my face from my closed eyes, and simply absorbed the beauty assaulting my senses. The tempest eventually slowed, calmed, no less stunning but gentler in its force. One hand wiped the wetness on my cheeks, the other moved with no hesitation to the control panel, to a switch that hadn't been touched since Edward took residence in the cell beyond. I made no other sound, and the clearing of the glass was silent, but his fingers slowed and came to rest on the keys, his head lifting like the rising sun. He stared at the wall in front of him, completely still. I sat forward, wondering if I should speak but desperate not to break the delicate and wonderful spell his music had created.

He turned on the bench without rising, his lean, powerful shoulders pivoting, narrow waist twisting, eyes closed. He sat at that awkward angle for a few seconds before swinging long legs over the bench, so he sat facing me, facing the barrier. Lashes swept up slowly, revealing a glimmer of burnished gold, a sliver, and then the full force of his gaze was on me for the first time.

It was a whisper of touch, sensitizing, and then a stroke. The force of his eyes hit me physically, blood rushing to the surface of my skin, stirring nerves to a fever pitch and then easing them down, leaving my entire body shivering and straining for more. More music. More of his eyes. More of the sensation of sex, even though many yards and an impenetrable barrier separated us. I gasped, and that broke whatever strange spell had come over us. Edward didn't drop his gaze, merely softened it as his golden eyes roved what he could see, from the loose knot of hair piled on my head down to my chest before his visual exploration was stopped by the counter. I stifled the almost unbearable urge to stand and let him see all of me, desperately wanting his approval of a body I'd not had much use for before then, only as a conveyance and support for my mind.

I barely managed to hit the other button on the control board.

"Edward." My voice was husky. Aroused. "That was… I've never… Thank you."

His eyelids lowered along with his head, just the slightest bit, never taking those gleaming eyes from me as he continued his perusal. I refused to fidget but sat quietly, sure he couldn't hear the rough, rasping hitches of my breath as I fought to bring myself, my professionalism, back under control.

"I played it for you."

The words were so soft, so smooth, they blended into the notes lingering in the air, and I almost missed them.

"What? You did... What?" My coherence needed some work, and I fumbled for the bottle of water, taking a desperate swallow. It steadied me, and I was able to regain some of my equilibrium.

"I hoped you'd hear. I wanted to play for you, to thank you for sharing yourself with me. Your time and intelligence. Your company."

"Edward, I—"

I'd gone too far, lost too much of my professionalism, if that's what he thought… But he was right. While I'd done my job to the letter, observed every decorum and detail as it pertained to my research, responsibilities, and daily duties at the Institute, I couldn't deny the time I'd spent with Edward had taken on a definite personal slant. I spent time with him because I wanted to—almost needed to—and let our sessions become different from all the others I'd conducted over the years.

The most devastating realization was, even with that awareness, I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to change one single thing, give up even a second of our conversations and time spent together. And that was the real problem.

Me.

"I wrote that last piece in my head. I can't tell you what it means to me to be able to play it, to actually hear it."

"It's beautiful," I admitted. "The most beautiful thing I have ever heard. You do have an amazing talent, Edward."

"I wrote it for you. I'm glad you think it beautiful. It fits you, and that was even before you allowed me to know what you look like." His eyes once again glowed with intensity as he looked me over.

"You wrote it for me?" _You think I'm beautiful?_

"Yes." He lowered his gaze, finally, running a hand through his unruly hair. "I have lots of time, you know. Reading books and listening to others play music only occupies me so much. Thank you for this. If nothing else… Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I bit my lip, debating what to do. I was at a crossroads, where my next words and actions would dictate my future, how I would go on from there, with him, my research, and my principles. My head did epic battle with my heart, intellect against instinct. The decision I made was purely my own and easily won by the part of me that refused to be denied any longer.

"Play for me, Edward. Please."

His head bowed, tension leaving the set of his shoulders, as if he knew the momentousness of the decision I'd made. Or perhaps he was just glad to have a chance to play the instrument he clearly loved, use a talent that would be criminal to let go fallow.

"I will. For you… Yes. I will."

He played for me every day after our sessions, as if he knew that what he created rendered me speechless. I brought my charts and other work into his observation cubicle at night, after hours, ostensibly to finish, but we both knew why I was there. His music was addictive—he was addictive—and I was a willing junkie. I couldn't bring myself to stop. I wasn't complete, as nervous and jittery and on edge as that aforementioned junkie, if I didn't have those moments with him, moments that turned into hours as the days progressed.

I started staying later and later, eventually giving up my pretense of work and just absorbing the notes, emotions, and essence of him that only showed through his music. The sheer beauty of his compositions affected me so strongly that I couldn't bear to look at him. I'd sit on the floor, out of sight, out of reach of those amazing golden eyes and the burn of his gaze, letting the exquisite melodies wash over me. Tears streamed down my cheeks, the conflict growing unbearable as I tried to resist but knew I was losing the battle.

Vampires were monsters—cold-blooded, evil, unconscionable creatures. We'd learned it. We'd seen it. We'd experienced it. I knew what they were with every fiber of my reasonable, scientific being. My mind accepted it, was even intrigued by it. Their base, animal nature was why I was there, after all, working with the Institute and studying the vampire race. Humanity had to be protected from the superior predators, and my work was a vital part of that.

But my heart… My heart wondered. How could evil create something so unbearably beautiful? How could such an expression of grace, splendor, and joyous magnificence come from something so malevolent? My heart and mind were as divergent as those questions, and I couldn't reconcile them, just like I couldn't reconcile the young man who played with such heartfelt emotion with a heartless monster.

I sighed, wiping the tears from my cheeks and stood on shaky legs. Walking slowly over to the control panel, my fingers stroked the button on the intercom switch just as the final notes lingered in the air. He always seemed to know when I was about to leave.

"Goodnight, Edward," I said softly, just like I did every night.

"Goodnight," he returned, turning on the piano bench and ducking his head, just like he did every night.

But, unlike every night, I remained, my eyes on him, searching for something that would settle my conflicting feelings, searching for a truth I couldn't find. After a few long seconds he lifted his head, eyes wide and inquiring as they sought mine through the cleared, thick, protective barrier that stood between us. I caught my breath and placed my fingertips against the clear material. His breath caught as well—breath he didn't need, I reminded myself—and I forced myself to leave the room.

* * *

**It's late and I'm tired, but not too tired to thank Sarahsumbrella and SunKing for their beta efforts or you guys for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Clearing the barrier between Edward and me was literal in more ways than the obvious. I gave up my pretense of not enjoying our visits, while rigidly keeping my work ethic and decorum above reproach. In response, Edward opened up as well, answering more in-depth questions about vampires in general and his experiences in particular, as long as I avoided the subject of his family. He gave me insight into the vampire mind and psyche I'd never dreamed of having, as well as glimpses into his own unique character.

He went into great detail about feeding—the process and compulsion, the instinct and base need that drove them into a frenzy. He enjoyed pushing the boundaries between us, nudging me, trying to shock and seduce, which made him seem more like the young man he'd been before his change. And when he did speak to me about his transformation, I fairly buzzed with excitement and accomplishment at the information I gathered on a process no human had ever seen or heard discussed.

"I didn't want to be a monster," he said idly, sitting at the piano bench and running elegant fingers over the closed lid. "Not at first. I was horrified at what happened, at what I'd become and what I must do to survive. The bloodlust, though…"

He rolled his eyes and smiled, lying on his back along the bench, spread out before me like a secret offering. Of information, of course. He did give beautiful information.

"Once the bloodlust took over, I never looked back." He rolled his head to the side to gauge my reaction, smirking when I just swung back and forth in my chair. "There is no going back. It is what it is, you know, and being a vampire isn't without benefits."

"Benefits?"

"The strength, the speed—oh. Man, I miss running." His voice took on a wistful note as he switched his gaze to the blank white ceiling. "I love to run. No point in hoping I could get a chance to do that? I'd almost trade the piano for a chance to run again."

_I'm sorry_ trembled on the tip of my tongue, but I held it back with iron will. Edward sighed and continued.

"The ability to see and hear everything. The indestructibility, that's nice. I love fast cars, fast motorcycles. Almost as much as finding a great new artist or reading my favorite classic for the first time all over again." He sat up, scrubbing his hands through his hair. "The physical is great, but the mental is amazing, too. I can remember everything, digest a thousand things at once. But when we feed, it all comes together in this perfect synchronism—the looks, our physical perfection and the scent we give off to attract, our voices, our strength and speed to capture and immobilize, our teeth to strike and pierce, all of that so that the monster takes over and glories in it, so we can drink our fill, feed, and survive."

He shivered, and my gaze followed the defined muscles in his arms to his clenched fists. He noticed the tenseness and relaxed his hands at his sides.

"Sorry. The memory, the programmed drive… Being a prisoner doesn't dull the desire, and trust me, animal blood doesn't satisfy it either." He gave another repressed shudder and stalked to the other side of the small room.

"But you've overcome that for the most part, better than any other vampire I've ever seen. Different," I allowed. "Most vampires, especially here, are reduced to that primitive state, feeding, fighting, caged animals. But you… Not you. Your books, your music, your cultured manners. I've never come across a vampire quite like you, Edward."

"You do know there is no such thing as a tame vampire, don't you?" Edward asked. He stopped in the center of the room, arms clasped behind his back before continuing to stroll the perimeter of the cell aimlessly, although I had my doubts anything he did was aimless.

"Yes," I responded dryly, wondering what had brought on that particular question. "You, predator. Me, prey."

A hard expression tightened his features, but then he shook it off with a low chuckle. I'd let a lot of things slide since that fateful day I'd first heard him play the piano for me and let him see me, but I still knew him for what he was—dangerous. Lovely, enthralling, intriguing, and my own personal brand of heroin, he was like the drug, deadly and dangerous for all the euphoria it produced.

"You feel safe behind your barriers. These—" his arm swept the small confines of the room, tipping his head toward the thick glass separating us "—and the ones you put up yourself, your personal defenses. For all your studies, your years of experience, have you ever been in the same room as a vampire? Face to face, nothing between you? No protection, no barriers, no safety net, nothing but you and your subject, the creature that fascinates you? Your life's work?"

"No," I admitted on a breath. "I've only ever been close to a vampire when they're brought in, unconscious."

A poison was used to capture them, one the Institute's scientists had developed that was absorbed through a vampire's mucous membranes or ingested in affected blood.

"But the vampires are in a titanium cage with only panels of mesh that you can barely see through, so the handlers can check on the status of their…captive."

"Yes," Edward murmured, turning away. "Yes, I remember."

"It would be the pinnacle of my work to be able to interact one-on-one with a vampire, to see and feel the things I've only observed, read about, or heard, but that's impossible."

"Work? Is that all it would be? A person such as yourself, a scholar and scientist, someone who is as involved and dedicated as you are… Wouldn't it be just a bit of a personal coup, as well?"

I wondered if I'd made a mistake in revealing that desire to him. It wasn't safe or smart, but my innate curiosity and spirit of scientific diligence wondered how I could call myself an expert when I had only ever been physically near a vampire once in my life, and then only for a few seconds. I knew rationally it was for the best, that anything else would be a risk to my life, but… I always felt like a faker, a phony, because I'd never had that experience.

We were both silent for many long minutes before he spoke.

"I want you to know, if you ever wanted to… You can't trust me, not too far, but you could trust me enough for that. If you wanted to. If you wanted to, you know, touch me. Or whatever."

I gaped at him, and he turned his back once again. I couldn't help but notice the muscles bunching under his shirt as he brought his arm up and then dropped it to his side. He gave a short laugh and spun to face me again.

"I apologize. I know how that must sound. I assure you, I didn't mean it that way. I just thought… Well, I just thought if you wanted to, out of professional curiosity, I could handle it for a few minutes."

I wanted to—oh, how I wanted to. But I didn't trust him. I wanted to, but… I didn't. I wasn't stupid. If he wanted to grab and eat me, he would, and nothing could stop him. It would be over before I even knew what had happened. I knew the unbearable temptation I'd present to him. He'd been on a diet of animal blood for the past few months, and the scent of human blood so close, so available, would be more than he could bear.

But, oh, how I wanted.

**-o-o-o-o-**

"I've thought about what you said the last time we spoke." All I'd done for the past sixteen hours was think about it.

He'd been lying on the bed but sat up at my words.

"The 'me, predator' part? I didn't scare you, did I?" He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before opening them and settling an amused, knowing gaze on me through the cleared barrier. "No, not scared."

I fidgeted before controlling the telltale motion and cleared my throat. "Well, yes, that, too. I don't ever forget you're dangerous, Edward."

And that's what had consumed my thoughts all night, preventing any rest. I knew he was dangerous with every cell in my body, but my damnable curiosity, my desire to know, to learn, to have an opportunity no one ever had or was likely to get again… The fact that he was deadly was part of the conflict, but more so my inappropriate and inexplicable fascination with him. I wasn't sure I could trust my instincts and career-driven interests, my thirst for knowledge. I couldn't lie to myself. I was attracted to my subject. Not just physically, not just sexually, although I wouldn't deny that rush of awareness, but he'd pulled me in with his thoughts, his character, his mind. I wanted to know everything he'd allow, experience all that I could, and I wanted all that from him.

He inhaled again and lounged back on the bed in a deceptively relaxed, purposefully enticing pose.

"I smell the heat of your blood, which must mean your heart is pounding. But the adrenaline isn't tinged with fear." He inhaled again and shivered, causing an echoing tremble in my body. "Just a touch, but…"

Golden eyes fixed on my face and one side of his mouth quirked. "Curiosity. That's what makes you tick, isn't it? It'll get you in trouble one day."

"I don't doubt it," I murmured. I was uncomfortable he could scent so well through the barrier, and he knew it. He tried to make me self-conscious, and I needed to figure out why.

"And something else." His head tilted as he examined me, and my fingers itched to darken the glass between us. I laced my fingers together in my lap, and his lips quirked again as if he could read my mind. "Excitement again. And…"

If he said arousal, I would blacken the screen, crawl under the counter, and never come out again.

"Well." He smiled, doing that mind reading thing again. "Anyway. You were saying?"

"I was?"

"You were thinking about what I said yesterday?'

"Oh. Oh, yes. I was. I have a question."

"You always do." His voice was amused and indulgent, but his eyes gleamed.

"Well, yes. And I know before I ask it how silly it is, and that's why I debated about this last night, because I know what the answer is and what I want it to be, and they aren't necessarily the same thing. So I shouldn't ask, and I don't know what—"

His rich, rolling laughter interrupted my mortifying verbal barrage.

"While you do love to talk my ear off, I don't think I've ever heard you say so much at once. Ask your question."

"Well, here's the thing. I don't know if I can trust you."

His laughter faded, and we stared at each other through the barrier. It was the most information I'd given him about me personally, my thoughts and feelings, and we both realized it. He studied my face for a long time, his expression serious, before he stood and moved to the middle of the room.

"I'll try," he finally said. His voice was low, but it echoed through the cell and my will. "I promise you. I'll do everything I can to answer your question honestly."

I shut my eyes and took a trembling breath, the first time I'd let him see the reaction, the weakness, the desire for all the things he caused within me. When I opened them again, it was to find him standing very near the barrier, breathing deeply. I stared into his eyes, and all my qualms, the uncertainties and anxiety I'd dealt with over the past twenty-four hours or so, disappeared.

"If I did take you up on your offer—to you know, touch you, be in the same room and experience you, a vampire, firsthand… Are you sure you can handle it? I mean it, Edward. It means my life and yours. If we did this—if I do this—and something happens, if you hurt me, they'll kill you. It wouldn't just be my life at risk. My life is my decision, but you have to make the same choice about yours."

He bowed his head and walked around the perimeter if the room before stopping in the exact same spot he'd started from.

"I have absolutely no doubt that my instinct, my will, would be my own. Under my control. I promise you, I will not feed from you, take your life, against your will. Never. You have my word."

"Are you…" My voice wavered, and I swallowed to steady it. "Are you one hundred percent positive, Edward? How can you be?"

"I am. I swear it to you. On my family. I'm strong enough to resist."

The air left my lungs in a gust as I sat back in my chair, examining his face for the slightest sign of deceit. I doubted I'd see it even if he lied to me, but every line in his body showed quiet, determined confidence.

"I told you yesterday, there's no such thing as a tame vampire. Feeding is primal to us, uncontrollable for most. But I can do it for a short amount of time. I've mastered those base impulses, denied myself before, so it's a promise I can make you."

"I wouldn't normally even consider it. Never ask it of you or any vampire, but… You are different."

And that was the crux of my decision. No one in the centuries-long history of the Institute had ever come across such a complex vampire, one with such staggering control over its base instinct. One who not only wanted to rise above its animalistic nature, but was driven to do so and succeeded. Only that vampire. Edward. The only chance I'd ever have in my lifetime. My one shot to know—to really know and experience—a vampire face to face. The one enticement I could not reject, no matter the consequences. And if I was going to hell anyway, it might as well be with him. He would either be the pinnacle of my career, what I'd focused my entire life on, or the death of me. If the opportunity slipped through my fingers, it would a kind of death, anyway. Nothing to look forward to but living with regret. At least, that's what I told myself to validate my choice. That, and the serious, worried, and determined set of his golden eyes.

"Would you really consider it?"

"I've already considered. I've already decided. You've just made me feel better about the decision. Well, somewhat better. I'll never have another opportunity like this. If you tell me you can handle it, if you honestly believe you can, I want to do it."

"Be in the same room with me," he said, almost musing. "Are you sure? Absolutely sure?"

"I am." My voice didn't betray my nerves but only showed my conviction. "I want to see you, touch you. That is, clinical curiosity, of course. I don't mean anything inappropriate."

"Of course you don't. I can handle that, but not much, and not for long."

"Of course." I echoed his words, excitement growing by leaps and bounds. I felt dizzy and reckless with anticipation. The fulfillment of everything I'd hungered to know was so very close and so very tempting, both literally and figuratively. I wanted it so badly I would risk my life.

"You have to promise me that you'll do what I say, when I say it. Swear to it. Once you get in here, you have to listen to me. If it gets too much, if I tell you—"

"I know," I said softly, sitting on my hands and biting my lips to control their trembling. "I'll listen. No matter how much I might not want to, or how bad my curiosity and fascination get, I'll listen to you. I can swear my control is good enough for that."

"That makes us far from even, but that will have to do."

"I trust you, Edward."

A humorless smile lifted one corner of his mouth.

"Don't."

I blew out a breath and sat forward. "This is completely your call—how we do it. If we can… Can I ask that it be after hours, so no one will see?"

His jaw tightened. "No one to see, no one to hear, if it goes badly."

"If it goes badly, no one could help if there was a full SEAL team standing next to me."

"Yes." His smile lifted both corners of his mouth. "That's true."

"I'd rather not have anyone here to see, or to, well, stop us. Stop me. Cause any complications I can't control. We're going to have enough control issues between us, yes?"

"Yes," he said again. "We need to do it after I feed. A lot. If you can get me predator blood, that would be better. It's somehow more satisfying. Mountain lion would be best. It's closest to what I drank...before."

His sweeping hand encompassed his cage, and I shivered.

"That might take me a day or two to see how much I can get."

"As much as you can. It won't be too much or go to waste, I assure you."

I told William the mountain lion blood was for Edward, of course, to further my studies, and I only felt a slight twinge of guilt when he was able to get me ten pints within forty-eight hours. I only told the truth, after all. It was for Edward, and we would be furthering my research on vampires. I just didn't go into detail on what my new methodology was, and I'd worked for William long enough that he didn't ask.

I sent the blood into Edward's cell on the cart so he could feed in private, not wanting the other vampires to scent the different blood, but also because I wanted to give him something in return for the opportunity he gave me. Yes, it was a liberty I didn't provide for others, but what greater one could I give him than with my life? I didn't—couldn't—watch him feed. Not that afternoon or later, when I arranged for the extra pints to be delivered an hour before the Institute closed down and all employees left except for the security detail. For some reason, it felt odd to watch him prepare himself for me.

No one thought it strange I stayed late, as that was my usual routine. I sat at my desk and stared at the glowing screen of my laptop, too excited and nervous to concentrate on anything coherent. The office staff trickled out, then my colleagues, and finally William, rapping on my doorframe as he wheeled past with a "don't work too hard."

Fifteen minutes passed, then thirty. By forty-five, my leg was jittering against the bottom of my desk, but I forced myself to stay put for fifteen more. Sixty-five minutes after William had left, I closed my laptop, left it on my desk, and made my way down the familiar corridors to the vampire holding area and Edward.

I took a deep careful breath and held it once I reached the observation room, then took another. Shaking my hands out and rolling my shoulders, I forced myself to calm and opened the door.

"Hello, Edward." I cleared the screen that allowed him to see me, and he turned from where he stood in the middle of the small room.

His shoulders had relaxed at the sound of my voice, but tightened up again as he searched my face.

"Haven't changed your mind?"

"No." I shook my head. "Have you?"

He took a deep, unnecessary breath, mimicking the one I had taken outside the observation deck. I glanced at the closed door between where I stood and the corridor automatically, opening my mouth to ask him if, somehow, he'd known I was there, could hear or sense my actions outside the room, but he spoke again.

"No, I haven't changed my mind. I can do this. Thank you for the blood, by the way. It was good to taste something a little more potent like the mountain lion, even if it was quite stale."

"Was it enough?"

His head tipped back and forth. "It will do. In this situation, I don't think I could ever get enough, but I'm sated for the moment. My belly is filled, but still."

He placed his hand over his stomach and smiled. "I'm not sure how much it will help with the pain."

"The pain?" I asked, wondering what he meant. Was he that hungry? If he slipped, it would be me experiencing pain, and I didn't see how mountain lion blood would help.

"Being so near a human, human blood, when I've been denied for so long." He shook his head. "It's going to be excruciating, the burn, the need to slake my thirst, but I can handle it. I promise."

"You're sure, Edward?"

"As sure as you are," he answered.

"I am," I whispered. "I'm sure."

"Okay."

"Okay." I took a deep breath, laughing nervously as I held up my shaking, perspiring hands. "I'm nervous."

A look came over his face, too fleeting for me to analyze. He stepped forward, close to the barrier, and put his open palm against it. I stared at it and then him. His gaze captured mine and held.

"I am, too. I'm just incapable of having a similar physical reaction anymore."

I hesitantly reached out and placed my hand on the thick, clear material, directly over his.

"Take a deep breath. Calm down. Whatever you do, please calm down. Don't come in here with your heart pounding and smelling of fear and excitement. That would be…" Golden eyes fluttering shut, he took a deep breath as if imagining the fragrance and shivered slightly. "Bad. It would be bad. Can you do that?"

"Yes. Yes, I can. I will."

"Good." He nodded, keeping his gaze on mine. "The next time I reach for your hand, I'll be able to take it."

I couldn't stop or hide my tremor of reaction, and he stepped away from the clear wall.

"Whenever you're ready."

Slowly, my hand dropped to my side, and I took a step back. A phrase from my childhood popped into my head, and it was certainly apropos.

"Ready or not, here I come."

* * *

**eeek!**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

I left the familiar corridor, the research part of the facility and my realm, my world, to enter the empty, echoing vampire common room. I concentrated on taking deep even breaths and not thinking of anything other than my goal—all my goals.

I was about to touch a vampire. Smell one. Smell _him_.

Edward.

I stood in front of the door to his cell, sweating, scared, lightheaded and wobbly with fear and anticipation. I pressed my head against the polymer material, wondering what the hell I was doing. If anyone knew—if anyone found out—I'd be fired instantly. If I didn't die instantly, of course. If Edward wasn't overcome by bloodlust and attacked me the instant I opened the door.

"Your heartbeat." His voice came through the door, and I jumped, my nerves getting the best of me. "Your blood. You've got to calm down. Please, don't open the door until you calm down, okay? Promise me."

"Okay," I said shakily, taking a step back and rolling my shoulders. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. In and out. Deeply in, slowly out.

He wouldn't be concerned, he wouldn't warn me, if he meant to hurt me. _Right?_ No, of course not. He wouldn't. Not Edward. I opened my eyes and took one last, deep, reassuring breath. I counted my heart rate, controlled my breathing, until I felt calmer. Until the blood wasn't rushing hotly through my veins, throbbing in my neck, vibrating in my chest and pulse points. I could do it. He could do it.

I took a determined step forward, my hand hovering over the latch. It would open when I touched it, scanning my palm print and clearing my access.

"Okay?" I whispered.

"Better," his voice assured me, low, deep, and beguilingly soft. "That's better."

Letting the timbre wash over and reassure me, I grasped the latch, and the door swung open with a quiet, anti-climactic click.

He stood in the center of the room, having moved back when he heard my hand on the door. The first thing that hit me was the smell of him, how the room was filled with the light, sweet fragrance. I inhaled, and my head swam. I swayed, my hand reaching out to steady myself on the doorframe. I must have been more lightheaded than I thought, because he suddenly appeared in front of me without seeming to move, and the wondrous scent intensified.

"Dr. Isabella Swan, I presume."

"How did you—" I couldn't complete my thought. He was there, right in front of me, no barriers, nothing to stop me from touching him. A vampire. Him. Edward.

He smiled, that slow, sweet, sexy smile, and I followed his gaze as he dropped to focus on our hands only inches apart. His fingers reached for mine, and I watched in wide-eyed wonder as he took them, bringing them up until they were chest level—his chest level, my eye level, he was so _tall_—between us. His skin was hard, cold, and smooth as marble, his grip gentle, and he exhaled slowly as those long fingers tangled with mine.

"Warm," he breathed, staring intently at me. "So warm. I'd forgotten…I didn't know…"

He brought our entwined hands to his mouth, and his lips were just as hard, cold, and soft as his hands. A weird sensation. Where I had expected warm, he was chilled. Where I expected give, there was solid, but the soft silkiness was there. His icy breath washed across my knuckles, and I shivered in reaction to both the temperature and the sensation.

He let go of my hand and closed his eyes, allowing me to trace the firm cushion of his lips, the blade of his nose, the hard curve of his cheek. My fingers tested and stroked, cataloging the familiar landscape but alien texture of his lovely face. I smoothed a winged brow, traced the bell curve of an ear, brushed the living satin of his hair. My touch was gossamer light over the fan of his lashes, sliding over his closed lids, and then I brought both of my hands up to hold his face between them.

"You're beautiful, Edward. You even feel beautiful."

He let out a huff of laughter, wrapping his fingers around my wrists to gently tug them away. He stared down at me and then pressed my captured palms to the hard planes of his chest. He moved in closer, his honeyed, fragrant breath washing over my face, and I greedily sucked it in. Another wave of lightheadedness rippled through me, and I floated, his intense golden gaze the only thing anchoring me to the earth.

"Stay still," he murmured, and I inhaled deeply again. "That's it, Bella. Don't move."

"My name," I managed to say. My lips felt heavy and full, like they'd ben shot full of warm Novocain. "How did you know my name?"

Were my words slurred? I bet my lips would feel better if he kissed them. Yes, that would be a lot better. I swayed toward him, trying to lift my suddenly weighty head, hoping he'd take the hint.

"I have to admit to telling you a bit of untruth," he whispered, pursing his lips—_yes!_—but only to blow that intoxicating breath across my face.

My entire body felt numb and tingly, a warm, pleasant lull, a rise and fall of soothing waves. I wasn't sure how my legs still supported me, and my arms were so heavy. As a matter of fact, I couldn't feel my legs. My breath came in slow, deep draws, my heart thumped in sluggish, reverberating beats. What was happening to me? And what did he mean, untruth?

"I can hear you through that worthless barrier you've developed. Hear you, smell you, sense you, every second you were there. And I could hear everybody else, right here." He tapped the side of his head. "That's another part of my untruths, you see. I do have talents, very special ones. Playing the piano is insignificant compared to what else I'm capable of, sweet Bella. For one, I can read minds."

I jerked in response, and his shy smile made an appearance, but I was beginning to suspect that was yet another of his untruths.

"I can't seem to read yours, though, which is curious. I don't know if that's because of what you are to me, or…" He gave his head an impatient shake.

I tried to move away, my heart rate tried to accelerate, but he'd done something to me, drugged me somehow. I'd heard about vampires putting humans under their thrall but never seen any evidence of it—until now.

His breath. It had to be his breath, his scent, and his eyes. We were so careful not to come in contact with them, so of course they'd have no opportunity to use those weapons. Only I had been stupid enough, naïve enough, to believe a vampire when he swore not to hurt me. Silly, foolish girl, to fall for a pretty face and even prettier manners and manipulations.

"I'm sorry for this," he murmured, his cool hands running over my hair, his fingers tracing over my cheeks. "But it seems I've finally run out of patience."

I tried to jerk away, but I couldn't move. I could only stare into his deep, golden eyes. He saw the twitch of my hand and took it in his, bringing it to his lips and placing a kiss to the back of my knuckles. I put every ounce of my fury and protest into my glare, and he smiled.

"It's the only way I can guarantee you'll listen. We don't have long. They'll be coming soon."

Surprise must have shown in my gaze, because his smile grew lopsided.

"An alarm goes off when a human enters one of the cells."

My eyes would have widened if they had been capable of the movement.

"No one knows about it but William Black and the head of security, Not even you. And, of course, me." He tapped the side of his head again, reminding me of his incredible revelation that he could read minds. "They think it's a failsafe measure, but it will fail. As if humans could develop anything that would hold me. You have no idea, Bella, what I'm capable of. You only know what the Volturi have allowed you to know. All these years, you thought you've had some control, but the truth is you haven't. They've allowed you to study us out of amusement and…boredom, I suppose. You've managed to eliminate a few vampires, but even those are ones the Volturi wanted to be rid of, anyway. You've been manipulated, you and everyone who works for the Institute."

My legs shook with the strain of standing locked in place for so long, and of course, he noticed.

"Come with me." The words were soft, but they were a command.

He backed up slowly, never taking his eyes from mine, still holding my hand as he guided me to the chair. I had no choice but to follow, going farther into the room instead of toward the door where I so desperately wanted to be. I briefly thought of a line from a movie: "We regret to inform you your children are dead because they were stupid." That expressed exactly how I felt. Who would tell my dad? I would cause him so much pain, so much grief, with my death, all because I was so stupid.

My breath hitched in my throat, trying to accelerate, but he controlled even that.

"Sh, Bella. Calm down, please. I'm not going to hurt you."

He sat me on the chair and lowered himself onto his haunches. We were almost eye level, more to secure whatever weird control he had over me than to be polite.

"I said I would tell you about my family when I felt I could trust you. I couldn't risk their safety—their anonymity—before, but you've shown me your trust by coming to me, face to face, and I can show you no less."

His eyes were open and earnest, and had the circumstances been different, I would have believed every word coming out of his perfect, lying mouth.

"The reason I'm here, the reason I let myself be taken and brought here, that reason is you. I came for you, Bella." His hands tightened ever so slightly on mine when I would have protested or instinctively recoiled in denial. I couldn't, though. I could only sit and listen to him, just as he intended. And then…and then I had no idea what he would do to me. I had no idea what would happen after that.

"I have siblings—a few of them, actually. Also, my father, the vampire who changed me. His mate, who I consider my mother. My sister, Alice, she's just…different. You'd be very intrigued by Alice." He smiled, and I wanted to slap his pretty face. "You see, Alice has a very special talent. She can see the future."

My mind whirled with disbelief. I wanted to scoff. I wanted to know more. I'd heard of vampires with precognitive abilities, but no one at the Institute had ever encountered one. Well, that we knew of. I began to realize the Institute wasn't the driving force in vampire research we had thought it to be.

"She's seen my future, and it's linked with yours." He paused, waiting for me to absorb the new, stunning information. "I'm sure you're aware that the Volturi are planning another Uprising."

I nodded slowly, and he continued.

"Alice has seen this, and she's seen the possible outcomes. Alice's visions aren't perfect. They're based on decisions we make, and can change along with those decisions. She can see…outcomes. What she's seen is the destruction of both of our races. Complete obliteration. Humans won't survive, not one, and we can't survive without humans. Not even with animal blood." He blinked his gold eyes. "But she's also seen how we can stop it. How I can stop it."

His fingers stroked my hand, wrist, and forearm. The touch was strangely soothing, but I didn't want to be soothed. I wanted out of there.

"I'm different than other vampires. I always have been, ever since I was changed. That's why the others are all terrified of me. They can sense it. I'm so much stronger, faster, smarter. More aware, more capable, and a mind reader on top of that. I'm the only one that can stop the Volturi from destroying both of our races. But even my vastly superior attributes aren't quite enough.

"There is a legend among vampires of _la cantante_, a singer. A human whose blood sings to a particular vampire, blood that will fortify and increase whatever abilities they possess. When the blood of that human and that vampire mix, the result is unbelievable power. I have that possibility, Bella. We have that together. You're my singer. When your blood mixes with mine, I can stop the Volturi."

My mouth worked as I tried desperately to speak. He touched my chin, his fingertip lingering on my lower lip with an electrifying tingle.

"Go ahead," he said softly.

"So you're saying—" I had to clear my throat. I struggled to speak through a thick, rich syrup coating my tongue. "You're telling me that you have to drink my blood, that you have to kill me, in order to save the world?"

I wasn't capable of my usual inflection, but I'm sure he could hear the condescension and disbelief I did manage.

He laughed softly. "I know. It sounds crazy. It is crazy. But true, nevertheless. I didn't believe it at first, either, but with what I know of the Volturi and Alice's visions, it is true." He paused to look at me, an odd light coming into his eyes as his smile faded. "Alice has seen a couple of possible outcomes. Drinking your blood is not the only way to mix it with mine."

I stared at him, having no idea what he could be talking about. Images of test tubes and petri dishes, beakers full of blood being poured from one to another, mixing and blending filled my head. He stood and walked a few paces away, running his hand through his hair before turning back to me, his gaze entreating.

"I don't want to do this, Bella. I don't want to drink your blood. Well, I do want to drink your blood—you have no idea how amazing you smell to me, none at all—but I don't want to kill you. But the other option, the other option Alice saw…" he gave a sharp shake of his head. "No. I can't bear that, either."

"What is it?" I was so very curious. Not only because it was an option other than killing me, and I was all for that, but the look of fear and anguish on his face made me want to know what else his sister had seen.

"Actually, it's more the human way of mixing blood, but the result would be definitely vampiric in nature." He paused, waiting to see if I would catch on, but I just shook my head. I still had no idea what he was talking about.

"We could have a child." His voice was soft, but it lashed me like a whip.

I gasped in denial, in horror, in…amazement. Vampires could have children? How was that possible? How could that be? I wanted to run screaming from him, but at the same time demand to _know_. It was my greatest weakness, the desire for knowledge.

"If we did, if we had a child, it would have the powers I have. And with the addition of your blood, it would have the same extraordinary powers I would gain by drinking it. But, Bella…I can't. I can't do that to another person, a child. My child. I couldn't bear to put that kind of pressure, responsibility, that obligation on another." He shook his head again. "I can't. This has to end with me. I can bear that. I can do it, take on the Volturi—the responsibility of saving our races, the consequences of what I must do. I can risk my own life, but not that of my child. But the alternative could mean killing you. And that I can't bear, either."

I believed him. At some point during his speech, I had seen his despair, the conflict, how he wrestled with his knowledge of what could—what _would_—happen. I wanted to weep at his words, not only because of his obvious anguish, but also the thought of any innocent child, let alone my child, _our_ child, being thrust into those kinds of circumstances.

"So, you see what I've been dealing with, trying to decide—you, the future of our races, or our child. No one should have to make that kind of decision. But here I am." He spread his arms out self-deprecatingly. "The weight of the world on my shoulders. Quite literally. I've been turning and turning it over in my head, trying to find a better way, some way to fix this, to make it possible that it doesn't have to mean the death of one, or even many." His eyes gleamed. "And I think I've come up with a way. I did tell you I was very, very smart. I just don't know if even _I'm_ strong enough."

"What?" I croaked. "How?"

He was crouching in front of me in less than an instant, and I sluggishly recoiled in reflex. His eyes shone with barely suppressed excitement and hope. "I would have to drink your blood, Bella. There's no way around that. Despite how much stronger I am than the typical vampire, I'm not strong enough to take on the Volturi, not without the power your blood will give me. But I can take it, take your blood, bring you to the brink and keep you there until I've taken what I need. I can't bring you back, but Bella… I can change you."

My mouth dropped, under his thrall or not. I was so shocked that nothing could stop the expression of disbelief. "Ch-Change me?"

He leaned in close to my face and inhaled. I strained toward him, bereft at the loss of his scent, his power, the essence of him that had invaded me. I collapsed into his arms, and he stroked my hair and back until I recovered.

"There you are. There's the woman I know." He held my shoulders, supporting me as he eased back to look into my face. "I'm sorry for that, Bella. But I didn't know how else to make you listen."

"Don't do that again." I scowled at him. "I'm not a fan of being without free will."

"I promise." His eyes searched mine. "Anything you give me from here on out has to come from your own choice."

"You're brilliant," I whispered, reaching out and placing my hand on the side of his face. "I can't bear the thought of so many people—and vampires—dying when we can prevent it. I can't bear the thought of putting our…child in that kind of danger, that kind of position. I just can't. And I don't want to die, either."

I smiled a shaky, trembling smile, and bit my lip. "So I guess I go with your last option."

"You do?" He blinked rapidly, going completely still. "You… You want me to change you? Drink from you?"

I nodded, unable to say the words, not quite yet. I wondered when I would be able to. I wondered how much time we had. I started to ask him, but was interrupted by a great commotion outside the door.

"They've come." He confirmed my suspicions that the security team had arrived. He examined my face, looking for the truth in my words, my acceptance, and that the choice I had just made was truly what I wanted. His tense face relaxed slightly, so he must have found what he looked for. "Bella, I'm going to ask you to trust me again, to take a leap of faith. Can you?"

"I trust you, Edward." And I did.

He pressed his lips to my forehead, hard, unyielding, perfect. "I can get us out of here, right now, just like this, but…I can do it much easier, and without hurting or killing anyone if…well, if I—"

"Had an energy drink?" I said with a lift of my brow.

He huffed nervous laughter. "Yes."

"It's okay, Edward. Yes. I'm sure."

I thought of the Institute's security team, men and women with lives, with families. If we could get out of there without anyone being hurt, I was willing to make that sacrifice. I bundled my hair into one hand and pulled it over my shoulder, baring my neck.

I heard him gasp, felt him lean in close. His cool breath fluttered unevenly against the warm skin of my throat, and I felt the trembling brush of his lips. My chest rose and fell in rapid pants, and I gasped when his icy tongue lapped my collarbone, dipped into the hollow of my throat to press and linger. It traced along my windpipe, slipping along the delicate skin just to the side. His lips pressed firmly in a soft, sucking kiss, and I felt the edge of his teeth. His voice vibrated against my throat, his lips and tongue moving to form my name. I felt it in every part of my body.

"Bella. Your blood is so much sweeter, so much more potent, when freely given. I have to admit to telling one more untruth. Well, quite a bit more than one, but these are the last that will ever concern you. First, this is going to hurt."

He licked, and I moaned.

"Second? I really don't think I'll be able to stop."

And then he bit me.

**END PART I**

* * *

******My appreciation to Sarahsumbrella and Sunking for their time, beta expertise, patience, and friendship. SunKing just finished her Geekward story "Pity" - go give the sweetheart some love.**

**I have original romances in a couple of different genres contracted with a publisher and coming soon (updated information on my profile page), but never fear. I'll be here, as will all my fic stories. I've got a ton of all kinds floating around in my head.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Those damn "what ifs..?" and the even more intriguing "and THENs!"**

**Yeah.**

**If you want to believe he ate her, I'm really okay with that. Don't read any more. That's what I wanted to happen until I actually started writing these two. And then... (see above)**

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**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Agony scorched every nerve ending in my body. I screamed, soundlessly, as his mouth clamped over my throat, cutting off air, cutting off blood flow. No, not cutting it off; diverting it. Siphoning it.

Drinking it in great, greedy gulps.

My hands beat feebly on his rock-hard, straining shoulders, but I had no strength to fight. Wet snarling and moaning rose from under my ear, and he clutched me tighter, driving the last of the air out of my lungs. The bastard really wasn't going to stop. Waves of pain overwhelmed me. When trying to shriek did no good, I gritted my teeth and hung on.

_Just a few more seconds. Just a little longer._ I could do it, if for no other reason than to see the look on the son of a bitch's face when…

A low whine vibrated the ravaged flesh of my neck. He broke away with a gasp, his ice-cold breath gusting against me as his tongue lapped up the rivulets of blood and caressed the gaping wound. His tall frame shook violently, and he jerked back to stare at me with long-lashed eyes gone wide and then narrowing.

I took my first gulping breath since he grabbed me, my vision dimming with pain and unholy fire racing gleefully through my body. I fought the flames back, my determination to see my actions through overriding my body's physical demands to collapse, give in, surrender.

_Never_. No vampire would ever get the best of me. No vampire could.

"What—" he breathed. "I—You…"

He staggered forward, taking me with him as he clutched me to his body, which had gone still as stone. I fought to remain limp in his arms until the drug took effect, fighting both the pain that stiffened my muscles and also my self-preservation instincts. Both demanded I drop to the ground howling and curl into a ball.

He stumbled again with a growl, fighting his own internal battle—one he would lose. His arms trembled and grew weak before finally dropping from around my torso. I took an unsteady step back, my gaze locked on his, and watched with great satisfaction as he crashed to his knees.

"You really didn't think I'd trust you, did you?"

Was that my voice, so rough and uneven? I tried to clear my throat and gasped at the burning, grating agony. My hand flew up to clutch at my neck, only to encounter a rough, raised wound, ragged-edged but sealed. I couldn't risk looking away from his furious glare, but I didn't feel any wet or open skin. The last greedy swipe of his tongue must have contained enough venom to close the bite.

_Good._

"What—What did you…how?" Confusion cleared from his glittering gold eyes as the drug coursed through his body—carried by my blood, damn it—and realization dawned. "You bitch."

The last was said with grudging admiration, so I didn't take offense. I'd called him a lot worse in my head the last few seconds and meant every word.

"You didn't think I wouldn't take every precaution, did you? Really? I'm disappointed."

My satisfaction grew when he sagged forward, catching himself on one arm. He could fight all he wanted, with every last bit of his incredible strength, but it would do no good. He and his kind may have manipulated and lied to us, to the Institute, but one thing I was absolutely sure of was the efficacy of the drug we had developed to capture vampires in the first place.

"Ever since I decided I would come into your cell, be with you face-to-face, touch you, I've been drinking the drug we use to capture your kind. It has no effect on humans, and we've worked hard to make it undetectable to vampires. I didn't know about your mind reading—I guess there's a lot about you I didn't know—but at least I know for a fact you weren't lying when you said your ability doesn't work on me. I've been affecting my blood, just in case, because it's my nature to not trust vampires. I've spent my entire life dedicated to studying you. As much as I wanted to believe—as much as I _did_ believe—I know better. I'm smarter than that, Edward. You should have realized."

A wave of pain shattered my delight in besting the smartest, the most conniving vampire I'd ever come across. Edward's lids fluttered as he collapsed to the floor, fighting to keep his vengeful gaze locked on mine until he succumbed to the drug and passed into unconsciousness.

I released my ponytail, thankful for the length of my hair as I pulled it around my neck to hide the bite wound. A quick glance down showed a smattering of blood on my shirt, so I closed my still-pristine white lab coat and lifted the collar as a secondary precaution against the evidence of what had occurred in the cell. The steadily increasing waves of pain from the vampire venom coursing through my body would be more difficult to hide, but I could manage. I would manage. I would see my drastic and foolhardy, but oh, so necessary actions through.

"Dr. Swan?" A voice came over the intercom as security overrode audio and video controls to open communication inside the cell. They wouldn't come in until they'd assessed the situation, as procedure dictated they not to risk their lives. The security team had no quick way to disable a vampire, but I did. I had.

Now for the most daring performance of my life.

"Everything's fine."

I turned toward the rapidly clearing barrier between the cell and observation room. A security team stood behind the control panel, and I could hear another out in the hall. The man standing at the controls swept the cell with assessing eyes, settling on Edward's prone form before focusing unerringly on me.

"Dr. Swan? What's going on? Are you all right?"

"I am. I'm sorry to have alarmed you."

I moved with slow deliberation toward Edward, clenching my teeth against the waves of agony radiating throughout my body. Sweat popped out on my upper lip, and I wiped surreptitiously at the telltale sign as I struggled to turn his heavy but unresisting body onto his back.

"As you can see, the vampire is incapacitated."

The locks clicked on the door, and five men swept into the room. Two flanked me, while the other three moved to cautiously circle Edward's still body.

"Dr. Swan, why did you enter the cell?" The man standing on my right leaned closer in an attempt to assert his authority, but he didn't know whom he dealt with.

"I'm in the middle of conducting groundbreaking research on this particular subject. He was hiding something of vital importance to that study, so I knocked him out to search his cell."

The lie was flimsy, but by the time anyone, particularly William, thought it through, the facts would no longer be of any consequence to me.

"After hours?" The man appeared skeptical, and I took a deep breath to ward off the pain rolling in great pulses in time with my heartbeat.

"Are you questioning my methods, Officer…Clearwater?"

"No, ma'am. But I am going to have to report this to my section chief and Dr. Black."

"Of course you will." I dismissed his words with an airy flick of my wrist, imagining fire shooting out of my fingertips. If only the flames eating me from the inside out were that easy to get rid of. "Until then, could you please have this vampire placed in a containment cage and taken to the disposal chamber? I'm afraid he's outlived his usefulness. I've got him scheduled to be eliminated first thing in the morning."

"Of course, Dr. Swan."

He gave me a speculative once-over, but I lifted my chin and swept out of the cell.

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**Six more chaps, about another 18k words.**

**Thank you guys so much for reading.**

**Thanks to SunKing and Sarahsumbrella for beta-ing and critiquing.**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

In the hallway, away from prying eyes, I sagged against the wall and clutched my stomach. The pain ate me, blazed and desecrated every nerve, and I took precious seconds to pant and bear down against the agony that threatened all my carefully wrought plans. I had to use the smooth, white wall for support as I determinedly put one foot in front of the other, stopping every few feet to catch my breath. I made it to my office and grabbed my precious laptop and bag before slowly entering William's office to leave a note of apology and take one last look around my mentor and friend's office. I'd miss him, but in all honesty, he would be the only thing about my current life I was sorry to leave behind.

The burning, searing, oh-holy-shit hurt that battered me eased somewhat, but I wasn't fooled. It slavered at its chain, waiting, looking for a chink in my armor, a hole to slip through and overwhelm.

"Not yet," I bit out between clenched teeth. "Not even close yet."

I wouldn't let him win. I could do this. I could bear the unbearable. I'd come this far and somehow managed to manipulate a master. I wouldn't give up or be defeated by my own weak human body. My mind was stronger. My will fiercer. He thought he'd fooled me with his clever and pretty manipulations? Well, he had to a certain extent. I couldn't lie to myself, not when I was stripped bare by crushing torment. I had believed him, everything about him, but thankfully it wasn't in my nature to trust blindly, not even when he'd offered me the most tempting, beguiling bait—himself, and the possibility of becoming like him.

Making sure my carefully crafted plan came to fruition was all that mattered. With that thought in mind, I glanced down at my watch. Amazingly, less than fifteen minutes had passed since he'd bitten me. Had I managed to get enough of his venom into my bloodstream before he grew weak and tore his mouth from my neck? Would it start the change, or would I linger in this painful hell, this burning inferno, forever? I had no real idea, and that was the flaw in my plan I couldn't do anything about. I had no solid data on how long it took for the venom to take full effect, how long the change took in total, or how the drug I'd affected myself with would counteract the venom—or for how long. Dimness wavered at the edges of my vision, and while I might not be entirely sure of the outcome, incapacitation of some kind hovered very close. If I carefully rationed my waning strength, I could still achieve my greatest success. But I would have to hurry. I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold back the crippling pain.

I rushed as best I could toward the main entry. If I could drive the few miles to the small house I'd rented nearby, I'd be safe. Returning to my home, my condo, wasn't an option, for that would be the first place they'd look. Ever since Edward's initial mention of changing me—even if it had just been an enthralling manipulation on his part—I had been consumed with the thought, obsessed by it, and had done everything within my considerable power to make it happen. Vampires were tricky little monsters, and Edward more than any other I'd ever encountered, but so far my attention to detail and superior planning skills had proved successful. I just had to make my body hold out for another precious few moments and get somewhere I could suffer through the change safely—and hope I came out whole and perfect on the other end, with every bit of knowledge and experience on my life's work available to me first hand.

I had certainly underestimated the excruciating depths of suffering I would endure in the meantime.

Sweating and shaking, I stumbled toward the main entrance, the parking lot, my car, and salvation of a kind. The kind I desperately wanted. I had to pass the security desk, and the young man glanced up at me with a friendly smile of greeting—he was used to my late hours—but his expression quickly changed as he examined me.

"Dr. Swan? Are you okay? Should I call someone?"

"No, I'll be fine. But thank you." I managed a small, if shaky, smile in reassurance. "I guess it's just hitting me how stupid it was to go into a vampire's cell after hours. I'm very lucky. Silly, but lucky."

My reaction could certainly be blamed on that, for it really was the truth.

"Well, it wasn't very smart, but everything turned out okay. You're sure you don't want me to walk you to your car?"

I shook my head and pushed through the heavy glass, hoping my gasp of pain was covered by the sound of the door opening. Everything had turned out okay and would continue to be okay. I just had to make it to my damn car and the damn house. Then I could sob and shake and shudder and hope the change progressed quickly after that.

I spared a brief thought for Edward, trapped in the titanium transport cage, and unwelcome regret knifed through me despite all he'd done. He deserved his fate, I told myself firmly, even if he did end up being disposed of in the morning. He'd manipulated and lied to me from the beginning, and while I felt a twinge of guilt at his loss—well, more of a pang, an ache, a burning—that was probably the venom.

I was certain he did possess attributes greater than the typical vampire, but how much of what he'd told me of his abilities was based on fact? Would his proclaimed superior strength be enough to fight the drug that incapacitated him? Was his physical might great enough to escape, like he'd hinted at? Not to mention the additional power my blood would supposedly give him—my singer's blood, he'd called it.

He did deserve whatever fate held in store for him. If everything he'd told me hadn't been a lie, and he managed to escape before the morning, it wasn't a concern to me. It couldn't be. I'd gotten what I wanted from him—I hoped. He'd lied to me. He really had intended to eat me, to drink my blood, to kill me. My concern for his demise should be no greater than his for mine. I couldn't worry about him. I wouldn't.

Damn it.

I collapsed into the driver's seat of my car, wracked with great waves of pain, panting, tears streaming down my face. I missed the ignition with my key three times before finally sliding it home, the soft rumble of the engine barely registering. And still, I thought of that traitorous bastard. My wavering vision drifted to the rear of the building where the disposal unit was located. Why did I spare even an instant of concern over a monster that had planned my death with blood-chilling, cold calculation, with sadistic delight? He'd toyed with me cruelly, tempting me from everything I was, all that I believed, only to increase his own pleasure for a few fleeting moments. Was there another being in existence as cold and heartless, as unconscionably evil as he? A surge of anguish wrenched a pained cry from between my tightly clenched teeth and any weakening, any choice in the matter, was taken from me. I had to get to the house. _Now_.

The car swerved drunkenly through the parking lot, but I managed to steady my course before approaching the last security gate. My teeth chattered with agony even as I burned, the fires of hell nipping at my heels, threatening to consume me. _Not yet. Not quite goddamn yet._ By sheer strength of will, I managed to roll my window down and push my card into the reader, the seconds before the gate opened the longest of my life. A guard inside the secure gatehouse watched closely but only raised a hand in farewell as the gate finally stopped rolling. I pulled through, fingers sinking into the leather of the steering wheel as I concentrated on driving slow and straight until I was out of sight of the complex.

I wasn't going to make it. I'd miscalculated the horror, the toll the pain took on my body and mind, how fast the venom would scorch through my system. I focused on beating the flames back, pouring ice-cold water on them, and then, when that didn't work, putting a shield between the ravaging flames and my abused body. I concentrated on thickening it, strengthening it, much like the barrier between Edward's cell and the observation room, a comforting and familiar image. Safe. But it hadn't been—only a false sense of security, and my mental barrier wavered.

_No. Hang on. Just a few more miles._

I drove down the mountain, through the canopy of trees lining the road, rising and cresting on wave after wave of pain so intense my mind began to disassociate and separate from the body that sent such excruciating cries for help. The yellow line wavered, blurred, rose and fell, shimmied back and forth until a dull roar filled my ears. I panted, sharp, staccato sounds like a dog, a damn animal, reduced to that state by the _oh, my God, it hurts_, _hurts, hurts!_

I wasn't going to make it. I'd tried my best, but I'd failed. A devious, soulless monster had bested me after all. The road turned into gravel into dirt into trees. Pine needles and branches filled the front windshield, then dark, looping revolutions, a bright shattering, and then nothing.

Nothing but the pain.

Fire.

Consuming and controlling. Shrieking and shattering. Buffeting, then stillness that held no succor. Sharp, deadly slices, cutting the flames, not defeating them, but dancing in sharp, dragging incisions that tore guttural cries from the depths of my being. My hands were cut off and replaced with flame. My feet with fire. My knees, the inside of my thighs with scorching, searing ember, turning to ash, and then that, too, burned. Arms torn off and incinerated. My neck, my head, exploding in a firebomb burst that would surely kill me, bring on coveted nothingness, but…no. The flames rejoiced and intensified, and I couldn't even long for death. I was dead, and unholy suffering punishment for my hubris, my self-conceit and delight for what I wanted and had not only asked for, but also sought.

Never-ending anguish was my punishment for desiring knowledge, for believing myself smarter, quicker, more clever than the most manipulative monster that had ever roamed the earth.

Edward. Damn him to hell. No, damn him to my fate. A fate worse than hell.

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**Thank you all so much for the comments and responses. Not sure I'll be able to get back to everyone like I usually do, but man, I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think.**

**Thank Sarahsumbrella and SunKing for not pretending their internet is out every time I ping them with "Wait - I just had an idea..." It happens occasionally.**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

The pain stopped. One instant it had been pulsing in huge beats permeating my entire being and the next it just…stopped. My eyes flew open at the realization, and I jerked back in shock at all the sensory input that filled the wide, gaping holes left by the pain. I wasn't scared, not overwhelmed—not exactly. Just delighted at the sudden cessation of agony, blinded by the rapturous replacement of color, scent, taste, touch, and feel. Beauty. And scary red eyes peering at me from across the room.

"Who are you?" I asked curiously, glancing around at the unfamiliar space. I sat up slowly, not alarmed, just…amazed.

I was a vampire. It had worked. I knew it.

"Do you know who you are?" The young woman moved toward me cautiously, small and slight with short dark hair framing a cute, sprightly face.

"Of course. I'm Dr. Isabella Swan."

"Your friends call you Bella. May I? We're going to be friends."

"Okay." I regarded her with interest. "What should I call you?"

"Alice. I'm Alice."

Alice. Memories slammed back into my head, and I shook it to make them all fall into place. Alice. Edward had mentioned Alice. His sister.

"Yeah." She kept her deep red eyes on mine. "That Alice. I'll explain in a bit, but I imagine you're hungry just now."

At the mention, my throat caught fire. My lips parted as I stared at her neck, where there should have been a pulse but wasn't. Alice grinned and walked over to a bin to pull out familiar bags filled with red liquid.

"It's not animal," she explained as I snatched them from her as soon as she was within reach.

I barely heard her as I sank my teeth through the flimsy barrier and drank and drank and drank. She handed me one bag after another until I felt somewhat sated, although the familiar, if banked, flames scratched at my throat, tingled in my chest and belly. I hated those damn flames. I'd had my fill.

"Someone was all for starting you off with a real human," she said with a glance behind her. "But this is the best alternative we have at the moment."

I froze, not daring to follow the path of her gaze.

"He's alive then?" I asked, trying to put the least amount of curiosity and hope in my voice. "Or not eliminated, at least?"

"Edward? Oh, yes. He's still with us." She stepped aside, and merciless ruddy eyes caught me, swirling with all the colors of a damned sunset.

I took in a gulp of air that ended up sounding like a hiss, a snarl, a warning. All the hairs on my body prickled and stood up in alarm. A smile twitched at his lying lips as he stood. I shrunk back and, with a yelp, realized I was naked. The sheet tangling around my legs was a poor shield, but I yanked it up to my chin anyway. Better than nothing.

"You're not dead."

The hint of a smile became a true one, and he opened his arms to sweep them down his tall, lithe body. Clad in faded blue jeans and a white button-up shirt, he looked so very different, and yet my heart leapt in gladness, as eager as always to be in his presence. My dead, not beating, vampire heart.

"Disappointed?" He cocked a brow, and I scowled, clutching the sheet closer.

"I could ask you the same."

"That hasn't changed."

"What?"

"Questions, questions, all the time." His smile mocked. "You and your pathetic little pokes into my psyche, as if you could hope to understand a vampire's mind. Our motivations and desires."

"I can now, thanks to you."

"Go ahead."

I repeated, "What?"

"Thank me."

"Are you serious?" I goggled at him. "Thank you? Thank you for what, you lying bastard?"

He appeared in front of me, in a blink of even my enhanced eye. I flailed backward before gripping the mattress on which I sat, my fingers tearing through the foam material.

"For giving you your heart's desire. For granting every wish, every dream you've had since you knew what to dream about. For giving you the existence you wanted, though I swore I never would—"

"Would what?" I demanded. My voice might have been shaky, but I lifted my chin in defiance.

"I swore I never would."

I stared into his red-gold eyes, fighting the instinctive reaction to his nearness, a conflicting mix of emotion. Excitement I was used to. Fear, too. The hot, molten flare of desire was something new—a flame I welcomed, damn him. "I'll never believe another word that comes out of your mouth."

"I didn't lie to you. Well, not much, anyway. You believed what you wanted to believe in your superiority, your conceit and consuming self-importance."

"I hate you."

"I know. You tried to have me eliminated."

"You tried to eat me."

He disappeared, and I almost fell forward out of the bed. Frantic glances around the room showed him standing near the open door, his hand on the lever. He tipped his head as he met my gaze.

"We both know where we stand, then."

I glared, and with another grim smile, he left.

I turned my narrowed gaze on Alice, who held her hands up with a grin. "Hey, I'm here to help."

"Where is here, exactly?" I took a deep, reflexive breath to calm myself and peered out the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the entire back wall of the room.

"Casa de Cullen."

"Cullen?" I swung my gaze back to hers.

She shrugged. "We're all Cullens of one kind or another here."

"Okay." I ignored the cryptic comments and moved on to more pressing matters. "But where, exactly, is Casa de Cullen located?"

"Oh." Alice glanced back at the door Lying Bastard had used, but he had disappeared. "It's in Washington State."

I stared at her, eyes wide. "That's a hell of a long way from the Appalachian mountains. How did I get here?"

"Oh. Well. Um." Another quick glance behind her. "Edward brought you."

"_Edward_ brought me?" My voice sounded alarmingly shrill. "What? Explain. Now."

"I don't know all the details. He just showed up here the other day with you screaming and thrashing. He brought you up here until you stopped. He didn't leave your side, not for a second. Not until you started coming out of it."

"How long was I…in it?"

"I'm not sure. Two days since he brought you. I have no idea before that."

"Is that typical? I mean, how long does it usually take?"

"It depends," Alice replied quietly.

"On?"

"How much venom, where you were bitten, your state of mind, the vampire's state of mind." He gaze focused on my throat and then, weirdly, tracked to my wrists. I glanced down and gasped air into my still lungs.

Clear, precise bite wounds circled my wrists—human bite wounds. Or, what had once been human. I dropped the sheet to examine the length of my arms and saw matching scars on the inside of each bicep. My hands flew to my neck, searching and finding more raised edges, and I flung the sheet away to frantically examine my legs. Yes, at each ankle, behind my knees…between my legs. Inches from my labia—one deep, clean, huge, perfect bite mark on each of my otherwise smooth inner thighs.

"What the hell?" I asked in a high, clear voice.

Alice lifted wide eyes to mine before blanking her features. "I—I don't know."

"Yes, you do. Alice, what are these? What the hell happened to me?"

"I'm sorry, Bella. You're going to have to ask Edward. I don't know what happened before he brought you here."

For some reason, she lied to me, too. But she couldn't know what happened when I was across the country, at Edward's mercy, unconscious and unaware… Could she? I shuddered. _What the hell had he done to me?_ I couldn't begin to imagine, not with the level of contempt and hatred he had shown to that point.

I stared between my splayed legs before realizing my pose and snapped my knees together, clutching the sheet I'd dropped in shock at seeing the bite wounds. The vampire bite wounds. In my vampire flesh.

"Where are my clothes?" I asked. Sitting naked in a strange bed in a strange house amid, well, strangers was not comfortable.

I glanced up when Alice didn't respond. "Alice?"

"I don't know," she repeated.

"Wait. You don't know? Didn't you undress me? Who else is here?" Something she'd said earlier—a couple of somethings—occurred to me. "You said 'we're all Cullens.' Who is 'we'?"

"I'll explain everything to you in a bit, I promise. Right now—"

"I think I need explanations right now. You said Edward didn't leave. Ever? Not even when you—or whoever—undressed me? And by 'whoever,' I mean another woman. It better have been a woman."

"Well, no. It was Edward. Edward undressed you, cleaned you up, helped—He wouldn't let anyone else near. It was Edward."

I lost the tenuous hold I exerted over my newly raw and intense emotions. When I gained control again, the sheets were shredded, the mattress in pieces, the frame broken, and the nightstand and dresser smashed through the middle. Alice threw another three bags of blood at me, which I sucked down in greedy haste, and then collapsed on the floor.

"I'm sorry." I curled up into a ball, shivering with the urge to cry. Laugh. Scream in frustration and jump with joy. Never move from this spot and run to the ends of the earth all at the same time.

Alice approached and dropped into a cross-legged position next to me as she reached out slowly to stroke the hair off my face. "It's okay. It's the change. Everyone reacts differently. You've done amazingly well. You haven't tried to kill any of us or destroy the house."

I glanced around the room pointedly, but she just laughed.

"This is nothing. Easily fixed. Edward does have that effect on people, doesn't he?"

I bared my teeth in reaction to his name and the image that flashed through my head of him lounging on the bed in his cell, speaking to me earnestly, gently, enticingly, spilling lies and manipulations with every mesmerizing parting of his lips.

"Yeah, that reaction, too." Alice smiled as I panted in a vain attempt to bring my burgeoning anger under control.

"Alice, please. Tell me what's happening."

"Edward brought you home, to his family. This particular house is in a fairly remote location in the Olympic National forest. The others wanted to be closer to him and the Institute in case something went wrong or he needed us, but I saw… I knew we needed to be here. This is where he would need to be after."

"Wait. You saw?" A memory niggled at the back of my mind but was surprisingly difficult to bring into focus. I had a crystal clear memory of the smallest details since I had become conscious in this room, but my memories from before were murky at best. I slogged through the mental fog, and the information I sought became clear. "You're the sister. The pre-cog."

She tipped her head.

"Then… You saw. You knew what was happening…what would happen. What did happen? Ugh." I rubbed my forehead as I tried to organize my thoughts.

"Yeah, it does get a little confusing. I saw—do see—some things, but you… You're difficult to read. I mostly see you through Edward. You, you're blocking me. I've never been able to see you or your future actions clearly."

"Why? What's wrong with me?"

Alice laughed and took my hand. "Nothing. There's nothing wrong with you, Bella. There's just so much to explain, to tell you, and I don't know where to start. How to start. How much I can tell you."

"Start a the beginning, and tell me everything."

"There are seven of us in our coven—our family. Carlisle—you're going to love Carlisle. Two peas in a pod, you are. Scientists. He's a doctor—a medical doctor. You'll have lots to talk about. His mate, Esme. Rosalie and Emmett, and my Jasper. And, of course, Edward."

"Of course." My head spun. Seven other vampires. A family. A coil of jealousy unfurled within me, but I tamped it down. I'd only ever had my father and longed for a big, boisterous family. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins. A mother. "Why did he bring me here?"

"It's home. It's safe."

"Safe? Safe from what?"

"With seven vampires, with our abilities, safe from pretty much anything. Humans, other vampires, the Volturi."

"Abilities?"

"I can see the future. Jasper's an incredible fighter and an empath. Emmett's amazingly strong, stronger than just about any other vampire in existence, except for Edward. Especially now, after—"

"He drank my blood," I finished for her.

"Yes. There's no other creature in existence that can rival him now. It's burden that sits heavily on his shoulders, you know. None of this was easy for him."

"Let's not discuss that just yet."

A volatile rise of emotions threatened to overtake my reason at the thought of that particular vampire. Meanwhile, my newly expanded brain cataloged and stored the information she gave me, my researcher instinct marveling at the possibilities before me. An empath. A pre-cog. A family unit. So much to learn and study.

"He had to come back here, to us, to wherever we gathered. It's instinct to seek a safe place for your change, especially considering what you are to him."

"What am I, exactly?"

"Well, you're his singer, first of all. He told you about that."

"It wasn't a lie?"

"No. Everything he told you about that was true. You are his singer. He needed your blood to make him stronger, make him more, so he can defeat the Volturi. Keep them from destroying every human and therefore vampire. Second, the two of you are bound, connected. Mates."

"Wait. No. No, no, no. We don't even like each other. He tried to kill me!"

"Yeah, that wasn't his finest hour."

I pushed away from her. "You also have a skill of understatement. Not his finest hour. He's a lying, manipulative monster. I hate him."

"Maybe right now, but you feel more. You feel the connection. You have, right from the beginning."

"No, I haven't."

"Now who's lying?" she asked kindly.

"Just because I'm his singer, that means I'm his mate? I told him before I'm a fan of free will. I don't believe in not having a choice of who to be with, whom to love, that it's some sort of fated, mystical destiny, and we fall in love at first sight. I don't believe in that at all."

"It's not about not having a choice," Alice explained patiently. "Don't you believe that there is one person out there we're meant to be with? One person that complements you physically and mentally. Biologically. Why do we fall in love with one person and not another?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"That's what vampire mating is. Humans search their entire lives for their other half, their perfect match. Sometimes they find them, sometimes they don't. With vampires, the cool thing is we know. We're able to recognize our mate right away. No guessing, no wondering, just, yep, that's him."

"So, Edward knew I was his mate right away, and he still played his evil little games, still tried to kill me?"

"It's different when it's a human and a vampire. Two different species. You can't mate with a different species. Maybe singers are vampire mates in human form, who knows? The attraction is there, but it's completely different. Anyway, once you changed, I think that's when he realized. You recognized him, too. When you woke up, you just knew."

"I didn't," I protested weakly, but recalled with shivering clarity the bolt of intense emotion and overwhelming sensation I'd wrestled when I laid eyes on him after waking from the change. And now my scientific curiosity was roused, as well, with all the talk about singers and mates, humans and vampires, but that was a subject for another time.

"He must have sensed it on some level when you were human, just like you did him. I don't know how else he could have resisted taking your blood right away, although we are talking about Edward. He's always been a bit…different. Not just what he is, but who he is, deep inside. You need to spend some time together, not as captor and captive, but just the two of you."

"He's different, all right. I think we've spent enough time together, and I'm not sure who was captor and who was captive, then or now."

"He's your sire, too, and that forges an unbreakable connection between the two of you. With all those things—mate, singer, sire—the two of you will always be bound in some form or another. You'll have to deal with him eventually."

"Sire?"

"He changed you. His venom is in you—your body, your veins. Usually, mating is completely separate, but in your case, yours and Edward's… Well—"

"I'm doomed," I moaned dramatically. "I don't want to be connected to him in any way."

"Maybe not right now…" Her voice faded as I scoffed. "You're going to have to work that out between you."

"Maybe in a couple hundred—no, a couple thousand—years, I'll be able to speak to him without wanting to rip his stupid head off his shoulders. But right now, I just want to figure out what happened and what I'm going to do. You can see the future, see Edward's. Did you know what he intended to do?"

"Going in, Edward had a plan in mind, but when he met you…" She shook her head and shrugged. "Edward's never rattled. Never unsure once he's made up his mind, but he wasn't expecting you, his response to you or your blood. It threw him for a loop. That would have been bad enough, but for a while there, trying to read his future was worse than riding the Tilt-A-Whirl."

"What about after? After I left the Institute? How did I get here? You said he brought me, but… How did he find me? How did he get away?"

Alice glanced at the door before turning back to me. "He'll have to tell you the full story. Like I said, you're hard for me to see. Once he found you, things got blurry."

"But up until then? Where did he find me? How?"

"He regained consciousness and strength not long after they brought him to that room."

Alice glanced at me with reproach, but I held her stare blandly. I wouldn't feel bad for sending him to the disposal unit with every intention of leaving him there. Not that I'd show, anyway.

"Edward isn't your typical vampire, as you know, and with the added benefit of your blood, his singer's blood, there isn't anything that can hold him. He made an Edward-sized hole in that cage and the outer wall of the building before anyone even knew what had happened."

"Just that easy," I mused.

"Just that easy," Alice confirmed. "He followed you, your car, and saw where you went off the road—"

"I went off the road?"

Alice nodded.

"Huh. The last thing I remember is…" I tried to make the jumbled images in my head clear. Swirling and spinning. A tinkling crash, roaring. Metal being crushed like tinfoil. After that, nothing but flames licking agony, taking over my body and mind.

"He found you, got you out of the car. You were bleeding pretty badly, and he, uh, cleaned you, sealed the cuts. Your leg was broken."

My hand went to my left thigh in reflexive memory, even though I had no conscious recollection. And I wasn't about to ask how he'd cleaned me—what that had entailed. I shuddered both in horror and a tingle of delight. And hunger. My throat began to burn again at the thought of human blood, even my own.

"My visions are pretty vague after that, and Edward showed up with you the next morning. You've been here—changing—ever since."

"Why didn't he just kill me then? Finish what he started, especially if I was bleeding so badly. How could he not?"

"I don't know the answer to that. He's the mind-reader, not me." She smiled sadly. "I suspect it's because you'd already started to change and were no longer human. You'd ceased to be simply a food source, a source of additional strength to him. Maybe he sensed you as his mate even then, that early in the process. I wouldn't think that was possible, but like I said, Edward's different. His senses are extremely powerful, more so than even a normal vampire."

"Thank you. For telling me." I'd want to know more, need the details, but I wasn't ready to have a serious conversation with him. The information Alice imparted would do until I felt up to the task. "But what happens now?"

"I'd like to introduce you to the rest of the family when you're ready. We'd like you to stay. The first few months as a newborn are going to be hard enough without the guidance and support of your sire. Especially when your sire is your mate."

"Ugh. Let's not talk about that."

"There are some things you'll need to know, to be ready for, but we can discuss that later. Let's get you dressed. I bet you're ready to eat again."

She disappeared into the closet, and I wrapped my arms around my stomach and closed my eyes. Thirst and hunger, the need to stop the awful ache, slowly drove me to a fever pitch. I wanted warm, soothing red rivers of blood. I wanted to sink my teeth into a soft, giving neck, to feed, to take what was mine by right of being the superior predator and top of the food chain. The fact I would be taking sustenance from a human didn't seem so bad. As a matter of fact, the more I thought about it, the more right it felt. Hunger snarled in my stomach and clawed its way up my throat.

"I see what he meant," I whispered.

"What?"

"Edward. He told me during one of our conversations that the monster takes over and glories in feeding. I think—some part of me still thinks—feeding from a human should be wrong, but the other part, the stronger part, doesn't agree. It just wants, and that overrides everything else."

Alice handed me a stack of clothing with a sympathetic nod. "It does. It's our nature—your nature, now."

"I don't suppose I can keep eating bagged blood, then?" I asked feebly.

"We've tried. Carlisle's made us try, to see if it would work, and I guess we'll keep trying, although I'm not sure it matters. Not if what I've seen comes to pass." Alice shook her head and then gave me an impulsive hug. "But enough of that for now. Do the clothes fit? Edward didn't take the time to stop and get any of your own. I had to guess at your size, but I have an eye for that sort of thing."

"Yes. They're perfect—both fit and style. Thank you." I pulled the shirt over my head and buttoned the jeans.

The material felt weird, every slide and scratch and touch magnified a thousand times. My vampire brain processed my heightened senses so efficiently that most things didn't even register, but every once on a while something slipped through, and all I could do was marvel.

A presence approached the door, a vampire presence. I heard the footsteps, the slide of fabric against skin, the rasp of breaths. The displacement of air brushed against my skin and a strong, unique scent tickled my nose. Not Edward. A glance at Alice showed she wasn't alarmed; in fact, she fairly glowed as a smile lit her face.

"That's my Jasper," she told me. "Is it okay if he comes in?"

I nodded, my eyes flitting back and forth between her and the doorway as I backed against the wall. The door opened, and my body went haywire, the predator in me recognizing and responding to the superior one in him with instinctive swiftness. I dropped to a defensive crouch and bared my teeth, hands tense and clawed as I faced the warrior who stood in the threshold.

He was tall, blond, and covered in battle scars. Bite wounds—vampire bite wounds. Hundreds of them. Air hissed through my teeth as fear and wonder escalated, and then I sensed another presence, one that urged me to seek refuge, safety, security, and also claw his eyes out.

Edward.

He stood in the hall, and as the blond vampire turned to cast him an amused glance over his shoulder, my fight or flight response went nuts again. The look on Edward's face was frightening to behold, the flickering in his eyes a clear warning.

"She's scared," he stated flatly, his gaze burning holes into the other male vampire.

"She's fine. Bella, this is Jasper, my husband. He won't hurt you." Alice took him by the arm and steered him into the room.

I struggled to relax, let my body uncoil and stand, but my attention switched back and forth between Edward and Jasper, not sure who presented the bigger threat. Jasper I was wary of as a warrior, an unknown entity. Edward I wanted to battle on a whole different level.

"Hello, Bella."

Jasper's voice was gentle and slow, like his smile, and I responded with one of my own. A sudden wave of peace washed over me, and I relaxed with a loud exhale. It felt so good not to be frightened, tense, worried.

"She's not scared anymore," Jasper said to Edward.

"Cut it out."

The unmistakable warning in his tone and stance made my hackles rise, and the impression of tranquility disappeared instantly. I crouched in the corner again.

"Jasper's a bit more than just an empath," Edward explained with a derisive lift of his lips. "And Bella's not a fan of having her free will taken away. But she can be convinced to give it to you."

I hissed, and he sneered, while Alice and Jasper both scowled.

"Edward—" Alice began, but he stepped into the room and held out his hand.

I stared at it like the snake I knew him to be.

"Come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

He smiled, and an ache knifed through my heart at the resultant beauty of his face. "Of course you are. Come, Bella."

"I'm not your pet."

He laughed, suddenly standing only inches away.

"Of course you are." He fixed a stern frown on his face, like he chastised a misbehaving puppy. "Bella, come."

I swung to slap him, but he caught my fist. I jerked my knee up to see if vampire balls were just as susceptible as human, but he clasped my knee. Struggling, I hopped on one foot, but he laughed again and tossed me on the wrecked bed. He pinned me underneath his longer, larger body, quelling my attempts to escape with ridiculous ease, and dipped his head to run his nose along my throat.

"This looks familiar. Will you beg me to take another bite? Repeat yourself, just like last time we were this close?"

"Get off me, you conceited cocksucker."

"Mmm. Now there's an idea."

He actually groaned in delight, and I went a little crazy, snarling and struggling, for all the good it did me. I glared and clamped my lips closed, refusing to give him any more ammunition to humiliate me. He studied my mouth with gleeful intent.

"Seems I'll be repeating myself. First, this is going to hurt."

He licked my throat, and I growled.

"Second? I really don't think I'll be able to stop."

And then he kissed me.

* * *

**Ooh, bad vampire.**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

His mouth crushed mine. Meant to punish, it did hurt, and I sucked in a reflexive gasp of pain. He chuffed a laugh and pressed harder, nipping with sharp teeth and stabbing his tongue deep, sweeping and claiming. Because I wanted to give in, I bit his lower lip. Hard.

He sat up with a yowl, releasing my right hand to touch the slice in his flesh. He stared down at me with an unholy light in his red eyes as he licked the wound, shivering slightly and returning my narrow-eyed glare. I wasted no time in swinging my free hand to give him an open-handed slap with every ounce of my strength, thrilling with both satisfaction and a hot rush of excitement when the unexpected blow snapped his head to the side and opened a fissure in his smooth cheek. Long fingers rose to examine the crack even as it healed under the slow strokes.

I swallowed, and the taste of him exploded in my mouth, razed my throat, rushed scorching tendrils through my belly and set up an insistent, pervasive throbbing between my legs. His venom. His blood. He had freshly fed, and the flavor awakened my hunger, turning it into a ravaging beast. I cried out and leaned up for more—more blood, more him—my legs falling open on either side of his thighs as I writhed and begged wordlessly. For blood. For him.

He laughed, rising to his feet, and rage bloomed as he denied what I sought. What I didn't want but had to have. I lunged for his throat, snapping like a wild animal, and he grabbed me close to push my face into his neck.

"Go on. Take a bite. It will only make things worse for both of us."

I stilled when he pressed hard as a branding iron against the juncture of my thighs, just as turned on, as helpless to in his reactions around me as I was to him.

_Good_.

I rolled my hips experimentally, and he growled, grabbing my ass and lifting to throw me on the bed again, but Alice's voice managed to break our preoccupation with each other.

"Edward!

"This is none of your business, Alice." His gaze held mine, and I wrapped my legs around his hips as he bore me backward.

"Edward." Jasper's voice was quieter but more forceful.

Edward tensed and vibrated before his shoulders sagged, and he lowered me to the ground. I breathed a protest, trying to climb back up his body, but his hands held me in place.

"Jasper?" Edward muttered, studying my face.

"I'm trying."

"Try harder."

"It's not working."

"Well, it's working on me, that's for sure." He fought my groping hands, and I didn't understand why he held them at my sides when his had just been as willing and desperate.

"She's blocking me."

"She didn't block you earlier."

"She is now."

"I told you," Alice sang.

" 'She' would like to know what you're talking about." I dug my nails into Edward's forearm when it became obvious his attention had strayed.

"When I couldn't see you—your future or anyone else's like Edward's when he was with you, I suspected you might be able to block my abilities somehow. Now that we know you can block Edward's mind reading and Jasper's influence on your emotions, I know I'm right. You're a shield."

"Jasper relaxed me earlier, didn't he?" I asked, but I had let him, in a way. I had consciously tried to calm myself, and Japer's voice and smile had lowered my guard.

Could it be that easy? If my defenses were up, if I wanted to block a vampire's ability, could I? On the other hand, if I wanted to allow an ability to work, could I do the opposite? I eyed Edward and tried to let him into my head, but I just…couldn't. My entire body tensed and fought the attempt, and I sighed in frustration. He returned my look but then shook his head.

"Come on," he bade me, and when my eyes narrowed, he echoed my sigh. He snapped his heels together and performed a perfect, courtly bow that the most blue-blooded royal couldn't have faulted. "Would you please accompany me downstairs, Isabella? The rest of my family would like to meet you."

When I didn't answer, he looked up from where he bent gallantly over my hand, eyes glinting. "We have more blood in the kitchen. And scientists. Other vampires. Lots of other vampires that won't already be bored to death of your incessant questions. Vampires that will be eager to answer. Answers, Bella. Answers."

He crooned and ran his smooth lips along the back of my hand, and I barely refrained from slapping him again. Arrogant bastard. He knew just where to hit to get the response he wanted. He always had.

Alice pushed him away with a huff and took my arm.

"Don't mind Edward." She guided me out of the bedroom and down three flights of stairs. "He's got a lot on his mind lately."

I ignored the ridiculous words, as if any excuse could explain his nature, and took in as much of the house as I could as we passed through. Comfort and elegance showed in the layout and décor, and the source of inspiration became evident when I spotted the vampire couple standing with their arms around each other near a large, sturdy dining table on the main floor. Tall and blond, the male exuded confidence and comfort, while the beautiful woman at his side smiled with all the warmth a motherless child could long for. I responded without question to the welcome they emanated.

"Dr. Isabella Swan, this is Carlisle and Esme. The foundation of our family."

"It's good to meet you," I said politely, unsure and confused and…shy. "Please call me Bella. And thank you so much for…taking me in."

"Esme's fair dying to hug you," Jasper murmured.

"Oh. She is?" I eyed the lovely woman. "That would be nice. I'd like that."

With a soft exhalation, she stepped out of her mate's arms, moving slowly and carefully as she embraced me, her hold tightening when I returned the hug wholeheartedly.

"We're so glad you're here. You have no idea. Thank you, Bella."

I wasn't sure what she thanked me for but nodded as Carlisle appeared next to her and took my hand in both of his.

"Welcome, Bella. This is home for as long as you'd like."

My eyes prickled with emotion, and I blinked rapidly, although my new body produced no tears to fill them.

"Thank you," I whispered.

I sensed two more vampires before I saw them appear on the other side of the great room. A tall, blonde female and an even taller, wider, darker male—very wide. Huge muscles bulged from under his shirtsleeves, and his shoulders spanned the entire width of the hallway he'd just exited. He stood behind the female, his enormous hands on her shoulders, and the cold expression on her face matched the menace of his size, even if his smile was open and friendly.

I shrank back into the solid, protective curve of Edward's body. He'd appeared behind me at almost the same instant the sheer bulk of the vampire across the room registered.

"It's okay," he murmured, hands on my shoulders mirroring the pose the other male vampire had taken with his female. "It's just Emmett and Rosalie."

"How many more are there?" I asked, and his amusement was a breath in my ear.

"That's it. Seven of us."

"Eight now," Alice piped in, and a slow, delighted smile spread across my face despite the uncertain atmosphere.

_Eight now._

"Does she… Does she always look like that?" My predator's brain analyzed the situation and focused on the greater threat, which was not the hulking male, but the regal, disdainful blonde whose shoulders he stroked in a soothing manner.

"Rosalie disapproves of you," Edward told me cheerfully, and I stiffened.

"What? Why?"

"You weren't supposed to happen. And you tried to have my brother killed." She lifted her lovely chin and glowered.

I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. No one judged me. I wouldn't allow anyone to question my actions when it came to the vampire standing at my back.

"He tried to kill me first."

"He's a vampire. It's his nature. The proper order of things."

"I'm a scientist. It's my nature, and no one orders me."

"She's got you there." Emmett grinned, raising his hands when she spun on him with a narrow-eyed glare. "Only Edward."

"Only Edward what?" Edward asked.

"Only you would find a three-fer—your singer, your mate, your newborn—and even with all those absolutely impossible things going for you, all in one person, only you _still_ wouldn't be able to get laid."

Edward snorted and clapped a hand over my mouth when I would have retorted. "Don't argue with him. It's pointless and maddening."

Oh, he did not just try to stop me from speaking. I bit down on the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, breaking skin, but he only grunted.

"You really shouldn't have done that."

At least he dropped that damn hand, and I spun to face him.

"I shouldn't have? _You_ shouldn't have. You don't get to cover my mouth and decide when I get to talk. I'm an adult and made decisions for myself well enough before you came along. Who the hell do you think you are? We better get some things straight right now, jackass, because—Oh. Oh, God."

I froze, and he smirked. His venom from the bite I'd administered slipped down my throat and burst hot in my belly, flaring to unholy sexual life in every part of my being.

"We're mated, whether we like it or not. Our venom is an aphrodisiac to each other. Among other things."

"Oh, no."

"Oh, yes." Entirely too happy, he rocked back on his heels and grinned. "So, you were saying?"

The burning seared just as badly as his venom had when it changed me. Maybe worse, and for an entirely different purpose. The need to rip my clothes off was almost unbearable. The material chafed my skin, covered me, got in the way of what I needed more than blood.

Him. Damn it. _Him_.

His nostrils flared as he shot forward, bending to scoop me over his shoulder and dart from the house. He didn't slow until we were quite some distance away, and even then he continued on to a shaded meadow somewhere in the depths of the densest biomass in the country—the Hoh rainforest. He dropped me at the edge of the grassy circle and moved away to stand in the shadows, his red eyes throwing fire. I stood still, refusing to give him the satisfaction of showing fear or reluctance. Uncertainty wasn't to be found anywhere in my being.

"Don't move," he murmured, circling me but keeping his distance.

Because he commanded, I disobeyed out of spite. I pivoted to face him as he stalked me.

"No. Hold still. Close your eyes."

"Not a chance."

"I won't come any closer if you close your eyes. I won't touch you—until you ask me to."

"I won't," I said tersely. "I won't ask for that."

No, I'd probably beg. And that intolerable thought steadied my resolve. Somewhat.

"Hm. We'll see, won't we? Close your eyes, Bella."

"Why?"

"I know what you're feeling, what's consuming you. The drive, the need. I can help. I'm the only one who can."

"Unfortunately."

He tipped his head with a small smile. "It seems neither of us have a choice. Close your eyes, Bella. That will make it easier."

"Why do you want to make it easier?" I asked suspiciously.

"Because I don't want this any more than you do, but I can't help it, either. It won't matter soon, anyway. Your human memories are fading, your vampire nature taking over. My venom will speed that along. The more you consume, the more you take in and absorb, the faster the transformation occurs. And I'm going to cover you in it."

"C-Cover me in it?"

He nodded solemnly, eyes intent, and I shivered at the sensual, depraved threat. "Immerse you. Everywhere. All over. Inside and out. But until then, close your eyes."

With a huff and an audible swallow, I did. My other senses sharpened being denied sight, replacing the visual with different but no less effective images in my mind. The sun wafted gently against my skin, sifted through my hair, gently massaged my scalp in buttery yellow waves. The sharp green scent of the pine trees scratched at my nose, mingled with the gentle brown of the earth and hard grey of rock and stone. Soft hazel moss, and in the distance, tinkling blue water shot with silver and white, rushing over my ears, chilling me with song. A rustling movement crinkled the calm of nature, and his scent pervaded, honey soft flow, gentle lavender stirring, hot, rosy enticement. Milk-white undulations, lapping at my ease, urging me toward the orange heat, intensifying into red. Red like a heart, like blood, running, flowing, bursting bright and wet. Life, need, urgent desire. Edward.

Edward.

"May I come closer, Bella?" His rich wine velvet wrapped around me, buffeting my body, will, and desire.

I nodded, but simple acquiescence wasn't enough. His presence throbbed and tugged, and I whimpered. "Yes."

He'd ceased to be a separate entity but instead a part of the whole—the whole world that surrounded me, supported me, gave me life and drive, need and purpose. He became my truth. Our truth. The two of us, together. He was a part of me. I'd taken his essence, but he'd taken mine, as well. The ebb and flow was exactly that—me to him, him to me. Not one-sided, something he'd taken, that I'd given up, but something we'd exchanged. Lifeblood exchanged between partners, for better or worse in the most basic sense.

He'd created me. I'd sustained him. We would be nothing if not for the other. Give and take, back and forth, each needing the other to survive and flourish. I loved him, I hated him. I needed him, I couldn't stand the thought of him.

Balance. Basic science.

His force thrust against me, pushing, seeking, always searching for something more, something I desperately wanted to give but was scared to ask for. He stood yards away, but the caress of his presence impressed my skin, my soul. His scent intensified, thralling me as much as it had when I'd been human and locked in a battle of wills in the cell. At his mercy. Willing and his.

I might have been unable to fight the need for him, but I was far from powerless. He had to be just as affected. I opened my eyes.

"You did this," I accused. "You led me down this path. Just because things didn't go according to your evil little plan and you got more than you bargained for doesn't mean you can ignore me or make this go away. I won't. This won't. This…need. Oh, God."

Giving it name intensified the strength. I couldn't see straight for wanting him.

"You wanted it, too." He circled, circled. "You can cry all you want about how horrible I was to you, how I tricked you, but you tricked me, too. You tricked me into changing you, when that was something I swore I would never do to anyone. You wanted to become a vampire. Just because it's more than you bargained for doesn't mean I owe you anything."

"Yes, you do. You owe me. And maybe I do owe you, but it goes beyond that. If this…need is so bad for me, it's got to be worse for you. Your heightened senses. The way you feel things more intensely. Having to hold everything in, all the time. Aren't you tired of it, Edward? I'm here. I don't like it, but I'm here. I need you. We need each other. Just do it. Make it go away, even if for just a little while. God, please."

His eyes blazed red, his luscious body still and tense as he fought the internal battle. He was good at controlling his nature, what he saw as his base instincts, but I wasn't that strong.

"Do it," I hissed, ripping at my shirt to bare my breasts. "Do it. Do me. It's got to be you. I can't stand the thought of anyone else touching me, but I'm at the point where my body is overruling my mind. If I go back to the house, to the other males, I don't know what I'll do."

He broke.

"The hell you will."

He was on me in an instant, slamming me back and pinning my arms as he tore what was left of my shirt away and shredded the rest of our clothes. I fought with sensual, primal instinct, my desire not to get away but to drive him to further heights of madness, make him rougher, more determined, until he was as helpless to mate as I was. He growled and hissed, holding me underneath his body, wrenching my legs apart and settling his naked hips between them. I bucked, and he bore down until I felt the steel of his erection pressing and insisting, sliding blindly, searching for entrance, dominance, home. I flung my body from side to side, not to escape, but to free my arms so I could clutch him to me, but he was beyond reason, past consideration and rational thought. He bit, holding me still with the deadly threat, sinking his teeth deep into my neck as he rammed easily into my body, slick and welcoming his every brutal thrust, urging him for more, harder, deeper.

Full. So full, finally. Full of him. No room for anyone, anything else. Just him. My home.

I came.

Growling, he didn't ease his hold on my throat or the thrust of his hips. Seconds later, his body hardened, his tempo increased, and he fell apart in a flurry of shudders, slurping venom against my neck—his, mine, ours. He stilled but didn't disengage our bodies, didn't soften, but I felt the conciliatory lick of his tongue against the vicious wound at my throat.

"I won't apologize," he rasped.

"Don't," I told him. "Just do it again."

He thrust forward helplessly at my words, moaning, and I sighed at the resultant pleasure. He pulled out, but my growl of protest ended in a gasp as he flipped me easily over onto my stomach.

"Edward, what—"

"Oh, for the love of—please. Shut up. No more questions."

He settled in behind to mount me, body curled, hips rolling and jerking forward, and for once, I didn't argue. I didn't shut up, but my questions didn't start again for quite some time.

"Is vampire sex always like that?"

His groan of frustration rumbled long and low.

"Is it?"

"I don't know. I've never had sex before, vampire or otherwise."

I shot straight up, whirling to stare at him. "What?"

He eyed my bare breasts appreciatively, but I was too flabbergasted to care.

"I've never done that before." His gaze flickered to mine but fell back to my breasts when they lifted and swayed as I ran a hand through my tangled hair.

"You're kidding me, right? I mean, I can't believe you've never…and then you did…that. All that. What the hell was that?"

"Mating," he said with lazy satisfaction. His eyes lifted to mine, one brow raised along with the corner of his mouth. "I figured it was much like hunting. Feeding. I just let instinct take over and hoped for the best. And then I couldn't think at all. Only listen to what your body sang to me."

"Well, I've had sex before, but nothing like that. Ever." Images of him stalking, seducing, and then jumping me, handling my body with such ease and instinctiveness flashed through my mind, and I wanted him again. Still. Always.

I scrambled away as he slowly sat up, deadly intent apparent in his flaring crimson eyes. "You've had sex before?"

His lips barely moved, and neither did his eyes or his body, but I flinched as if struck with the words. He meant them as a blow.

"Yes. Of course. You do know how old I am, right?"

"Immaterial." He eased into a crouch and then to all fours as he stalked me. Like an animal. Like a vampire. Like a really pissed-off male vampire. "Who? Who touched you? Who did you touch? Tell me, Bella."

I fell back and scrabbled like a crab. The contrast of our positions didn't escape me—both of us on all fours, him crawling forward, me escaping backward.

"Immaterial." I repeated his words and flinched again as he emitted a really ugly growl.

"You're mine. Mine. No one touches you. No one. Do you understand?"

"Yes." My body thrilled to his possessiveness. My mind craved it. Him. Us. "No one else. Just you. It was a long time ago, Edward. Before. When I was human. Before I met you."

I stopped retreating at the warning in his eyes and lowered my ass and shoulders to the ground. He continued advancing until he hovered over me, not touching, but I could feel him in every perfect pore.

"I don't share, Bella. Not ever."

"Not ever." I leaned up and kissed the blade of his jaw, plane of cheek, jut of chin. The perfection of his lips, and then—_oh, yes_—he kissed me back. Open mouths, sucking, swirling. Hot. Burning tender insides with venom and lust. Possession.

"Yours," I goaded, clutching his shoulders, sliding my hands down to his ass as he lowered his hips and forced his way into my slick body with one fierce thrust.

He growled again, snapping and snarling before his teeth found my neck and he bit, held, punished and worshipped. I twitched and trembled under his dominant grip, held steady for his claiming, his rutting, his joy in his mate. His body's smooth, powerful coil and release stuttered, jerking, becoming ragged and disjointed as he relaxed his jaw, withdrew his teeth, flung his head back, and roared.

"I just can't believe you've never done that before," I panted as he dropped to the ground and curled around me, hand on my breast and clasping me loosely to his chest. "How old were you when you changed?"

"Seventeen," he mumbled into my hair. "Seventeen in 1918. No girlfriend. No sex."

I closed my eyes, imagining a young, human Edward, slender, on the cusp of manhood, pink-cheeked and clear-eyed.

"And you've been a vampire for more than one hundred years. In all that time, how could you not have had sex? Been tempted?"

"I didn't say I wasn't tempted. I was sick when Carlisle found me—on my deathbed. Spanish influenza, an epidemic that swept the city. Chicago," he added before I could ask. "I don't know what made him take me out of all the hundreds of people he treated who were dying, but he did. Took me and changed me, and when I woke…"

His body was hard and still against my back, and I turned in his arms to press a gentle kiss to his full, wide mouth.

"When I woke, things were…bad. I didn't come out of it like you did, like a lot of vampires, with my brain changed enough to be able to process what had happened instantly, catalog and understand. I was overwhelmed by the noise, the voices. Carlisle had taken me to a remote property he owned, but he had no idea what had happened, either. He'd never come across a vampire that could read minds without touching someone or some object to read from. He didn't know why I curled up sobbing and screaming in the corner, my throat echoing the fire my body had just gone through, and the awful, shocking noise on my head. It wouldn't stop."

A slow shudder worked its way from his feet to his hands, and I held him. "A long time passed before I was able to rationalize anything, to do anything other than react, feed, try to protect myself. Carlisle was patient, helped as best he could, especially after we figured out what was going on, but those first years—"

"Years?"

He shrugged. "The first years were a challenge—for me and Carlisle. I was out of control, beyond reason, not capable of understanding what had happened or what I was. Even when I managed some control and my rational mind returned, neither of us realized exactly what I was capable of, or would be capable of, not until we visited the Volturi."

I shivered, the response based in both my rapidly fading human memories and vampire instinct. "You've actually seen the Volturi? Met them?"

"Yes." His lips brushed the crown of my head at my reaction. "Carlisle spent many years with them long before the Uprising. He brought me there when I gained enough control of myself, hoping Aro could help. And he did, in a way, but that visit set me on the course that puts me—us—where we are now. I wasn't quite able to handle my ability, my mind reading, like I can now, but after I sorted through what I'd seen in his head—the horror he would inflict on both humans and vampires—and discussed it with Carlisle, we knew what would have to happen. What I'd have to do. We've been trying to come up with a plan ever since, but it wasn't until Alice found us that everything fell into place. And then we had to wait for you. She saw our only chance of success—my only chance of success—would be if I drank your blood."

I remained still and silent, sifting through waning memories of what he'd done—what I'd done—the months he'd been at the Institute. A nagging annoyance hinted I should be mad at him for something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what. Playing with humans seemed normal. Amusing. What I could recall of my actions and behavior then seemed petty and inconsequential compared to the possibilities and opportunities that stretched before me now. Opportunities Edward had given me.

But he could be pretty irritating. Had been. _I think._

"Why?" I asked quietly, and he didn't pretend to misunderstand.

"I was bored," he replied, and I let my silence speak for itself.

"Okay, at first it was boredom. And intrigue. Why was it your blood that would have such an affect on me when I had fed from hundreds, thousands of others? I let myself be captured. I could have escaped, gone through the worthless barriers like they weren't even there. Come after you. I could have taken your blood at any time, in or out of that place. But I was curious. I took the opportunity to learn more about the Institute, exactly what they did and what they'd learned from us—procedures, resources, and knowledge. Their intent. And then, I met you. I'd scented you long before you came to my cell, and I'd grown…interested. Our conversations heightened that curiosity."

"But you tried to kill me anyway."

"What else would I do? I'm a vampire, Bella. You were human. Food. That's the nature of the game. You smelled amazing, and I was so hungry."

"Just that easy." I thought back to the same words I'd said to Alice.

"Easy? Hardly. I told you, I'm different, stronger than most vampires, both mentally and physically. Even before I drank you. No other vampire could have left you alive for more than half a second. You have no idea how difficult it was to resist the call of your human blood."

"But I'm not anymore."

He remained silent for long seconds.

"No," he finally murmured. "Not anymore."

"You never had any intention of changing me. You said before that you never would. Why?"

"You and your questions."

"Because you didn't want the responsibility?" I pressed. "Of teaching, guiding another being through this existence? The connection? Is that what bothers you?"

"Yes and no. It's not the responsibility that bothers me so much. It's not being able to guide someone through this existence, the possibility of making someone suffer what I did. What I do. I promised I would never do that—put anyone in that position." He inched closer, kissing me so I couldn't protest as he shifted my arms and legs, wriggling and sliding, until we tangled together. "But this position… Mm.

"Ooh. You feel good." I pulled him closer. "I can't believe you've been around for so long, heard what you have in your head, and never had sex. And when you finally did, you're so damn good at it."

"I am?" His face lit and a slow smile lifted the corners of his mouth. "That's very relieving to know—that I can please you."

"You did. My experience might be limited, but those moments were the most amazing of my existence, human or vampire. So far."

"Let's not talk about your experience, limited or otherwise," he growled, hips surging warningly.

"But still." My mind wouldn't leave the incredible, unbelievable thought alone. "One hundred years, looking like you do, smelling like you do—thinking like you do. No one? No interest on anyone's part? None on yours?"

"Well, there has been some. More on others' part than mine, but…yes. Just not enough to tempt me, and then all of a sudden—you."

"Who? Who interested you?" An ugly, painful rage burned my chest, throat, curled in my fingers and bared in my teeth.

"Many in theory, only a couple that mattered."

"That mattered?" I choked on my jealousy. "Who? Who, Edward?"

"Carlisle has close friends, allies, three vampires that have been around longer than he has. Kate, Irina, and Tanya. They're up in Alaska now and have been for a number of years. Eleazar and Carmen joined them about the time Alice and Jasper joined us. Our covens have always been close."

"Close? How close?"

"Close friends. That's all. Good friends, the only ones I count, other than my family."

Kate. Irina. Tanya. Which one had tempted him? Which one had wanted him? Which one had _mattered_?

"Which one?" I managed to grit out from between clenched teeth.

He shrugged, and my fingertips dug into his shoulders.

"Which one."

"Tanya. Tanya showed some interest, but when it wasn't returned, she accepted the fact. She didn't interest me. Not enough."

Female vampires appeared to be just as possessive as their male counterparts. Fascinating.

"Mine," I demanded, pouncing and rolling him beneath me. "No one but me. I mean it, Edward. You make all the demands you want, but know I want every one returned and then some. I'm yours, and I admit it gladly, but you're mine, too. You're only allowed to be interested in me."

He let me pin his arms on either side of his head and watched with approval as I straddled his slim, naked hips.

"I don't know," he taunted. "She is very pretty, in a remarkably intelligent, blonde bombshell sort of way. And, _mm_, you know. Three of them. Sisters and all."

I fucked him hard and fucked him well, leaving his smartass mouth gasping, moaning. Gritting out my name. _Mine_. I bit him, and his venom poured into me, mixing, heightening. Becoming. He held my mouth to his neck and urged me on, to take more, to glut on his essence and the residual blood from his recent feeding. Human cares and concerns slipped away as unbelievable energy and new purpose took their place.

He had kept his promise. I was covered in his venom—in him—inside and out. I had started to change when he'd bitten me in the cell, but now I became. He sensed the transformation and nuzzled close, rubbing our scents all over our skin, as we lay wrapped around each other fighting stupid, silly grins.

"Mine," I breathed.

"Mine," he insisted.

"So what happens now? Later?"

"Ugh, the questions. Some things never change. You really don't believe in post-coital glow, do you?"

I snorted, and he sighed.

"I go to Volterra. Relieve Aro of his head, save the world."

"And then what?"

"Are you kidding me? Do you ever stop? I'm going to have very little peace in my future, that's what."

"Do you think humans and vampires can co-exist? Peacefully? After the Volturi are gone?"

He groaned and then batted my hands away when I tried to pinch his smooth, hard skin. "I don't know. Changes will have to be made, that's for sure. Carlisle has some ideas, but I'm not certain I agree with him."

"Such as?"

"He's made a pact with the local tribe, the Quileutes. They give us blood, and we don't kill them. We don't allow other vampires to kill them, either. If the two species can work together like that, then maybe."

The doubt in his voice rang clear.

"But you don't think so."

"No, I don't think so. A vampire can't go very long without hunting. Killing. Feeding fresh. Bagged blood doesn't satisfy the predator, the dominant drive in us. It's not in our nature to survive that way. But I was outvoted, so I'll play along. In the end, it won't matter anyway."

Killing people seemed wrong to the bits of humanity that still clung to me, but at the same time, it sounded…tasty.

"In the end? The end of what? The Volturi?"

"Mm."

"So, when you get to Volterra, you'll barrel your way into the vampire lair and lay waste to the evil empire. How long will that take?"

"A few seconds," he said dryly. "You have no idea how strong I am. Stronger than the freshest newborn. As you've seen."

"Newborns are strong?" I flexed my muscle and got distracted by the sight of my skin flashing through an errant ray of sun that found its way through the overhead canopy of forest. The resultant refractions, brilliant prisms of bright rainbows, were so pretty.

"Stronger than normal, yes. It's the residual human blood in your system. You're stronger than anyone other than me, even Emmett. You will be for a few months."

"But not stronger than you."

"No, not me. Sorry."

I sighed. "When will you be back? I mean, how long will you be gone?"

"Ah. I figured you'd be eager to get rid of me." He disentangled himself and stood, searching the grass for his clothes.

I rolled onto my stomach, missing the smooth comfort of his body. I might have been glad to see the last of him before, because… I frowned. I'd been so angry with him for acting like a vampire, which seemed silly now. We had well and truly bonded, and the additional quantities of his venom—I shivered in wanton delight at the thought—ensured I embraced being a vampire and everything the transformation entailed. I didn't like the distance of a few yards between us, let alone a continent or two.

"It's got to take a couple of days to travel to Italy, right? Will you stay? I mean, will you have to put another governing body in place? Or will you just leave and every vampire for itself?"

"You won't miss me." He said the words like a warning, not a fact. "You can carry on your studies, your life's goal—first hand experience of vampire existence. All without having to put up with my presence. A dream come true, right?"

I studied him closely. "Edward? What are you talking about? You're coming back, right?"

The thought of him staying in Italy without me… No. Just no. He was mine, damn it, my mate, my sire, and I was falling in love with his clever, pretty little ass. He pulled on the tattered remains of his jeans and shirt, giving up on his shoes after a quick search.

"We should probably get back to the house." He held out his hand, his eyes fiery red and remote.

"You _are_ coming back. Right?"

His mouth flattened, and he clenched his fist. "Does it really matter? Would it really make any difference to you? As long as the world as we know it is saved, both races survive, what difference does one heartless, cruel, manipulative, conniving vampire make?"

"What are you—"

Horror froze me as, with perfect clarity, I recalled the things he and Alice had said. I stared as memories clicked, sifted, and fell into place.

"Wait a minute. Wait. You don't think you're coming back, do you? You think you're going to Volterra to die."

He stood straight and tall, perfectly carved, perfectly beautiful. Perfectly damned.

"I don't think I'm going to die, Bella. I know it."


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

"How? How can you know?" But the answer to my question was obvious.

"Alice. Alice has seen it, no matter what we come up with, no matter what I decide. Every single course of action ends with my death. Aro's death, too, and the continuation of both the vampire and human races, so in the end, it's worth it."

"No, it isn't." My voice started low and forceful but grew in pitch. "No, Edward. No."

"I'm sorry, Bella. There's a lot I'm not sorry for, but to leave you behind, without your mate, your sire, alone… Even with the support of my family, it's a horrible existence, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I didn't want any of this, but I have no choice."

"There has to be something." I rose up on my knees and grabbed the shirt he threw at me. "Something you can do, some sort of plan, that doesn't end with you…not coming home."

"There isn't. We've spent years trying to come up with an alternative, but Alice's visions always end the same."

"But they're not always right. You said so yourself."

"The future isn't set, true, but none of the alternatives we've come up with have made any difference."

"But you're strong. Stronger than anything—than anyone. And you can read minds. How can they get anywhere near you? Near enough to…kill you. Oh." I clapped a hand over my mouth at the phantom nausea that gurgled at the thought.

"I can take anyone physically, but Jane is part of Aro's guard. Her skills are more mental, and those I don't have much defense against. Some, more than most, but not enough."

"Who the hell is Jane, and what can she do?"

He started toward me as I swayed on my knees, clutching my shirt to my chest, but stopped a few feet away.

"Jane can make you wish you were dead with just a look. She makes the fire of changing feel like mild sunburn. She can—and will—incapacitate me completely, and the other Volturi guards will do the rest. I'm quick enough to take advantage of the element of surprise and get to Aro and Cauis—probably not Marcus, but he isn't a threat to anyone—but not enough to get away before she realizes what's happening and takes me down."

"Can't you take her out first?"

"Alice has seen a couple of scenarios where I manage it, but Jane has a twin brother. They're never apart. I can't take both of them before one or the other gets to me mentally."

"He can do what she does?"

"Yes, but not exactly. He incapacitates with nothingness. Takes away all your senses, every one, like flipping a power switch. I could only stand there, limp and unaware, as the Guard tore me apart. Either way, I'm a goner. But I'll take Aro to hell with me first, you can count on that."

"You're not a goner. No. No way. No one can help? Not your giant of a brother? Or Jasper. Can't his ability to control emotion help?"

"No." He shook his head, auburn hair falling in dark flames over his forehead. "If they go with me, they all end up dying, too."

Dying. Torn to pieces. I couldn't bear the thought. Wouldn't allow it.

"I'll go. I'm a shield or blocker or something, right? Can't I block her? Keep her from zapping you or whatever?"

"You're not going."

"But I could help." I grew excited at the thought. "I could shield you so you could go in, take care of Aro, and get out."

"You can do that?" he asked with a cynical, raised brow. "Cast your shield? Protect others? You know that for sure? Sure enough to bet your life on it? No. I didn't think so."

"I could distract her." I threw out ideas, desperate for something, anything that might work. That might save him, save me. I'd just found him, my mate, and I wouldn't lose him. Not now, not ever. "I can shield me. Maybe I could get her to focus on me, not you. Distract her. By the time she figured out I'm not affected, you'd be done with your little task, and out we go."

"You're sure you can block her? Enough to risk your life?'

"I'm sure," I insisted bravely.

"Enough to risk my life?" he asked softly.

My mouth opened and closed.

"That's what I thought."

"But—"

"Yes!" The delighted yell came from the house, growing in volume with each repeat. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"

Alice came barreling into view a few seconds later and launched, bowling me over so I lay half-naked in the grass.

"You're a genius! It's going to work. It is. I've seen it." She hugged me hard and then turned her smiling, shining face to Edward. "It's going to work, Edward. Just like she said. She'll distract Jane—her evil little power won't work on our Bella—and you'll have time to get to her and anyone else who's a threat. You'll have to work fast and sure, but you can and you are. After all these years, after all this time… It's going to work. You don't die. Neither one of you die."

Edward peeled her off and handed me articles of discarded clothing so I could dress. We returned to the house much more slowly than we'd left, with Alice smiling happily and Edward hovering behind me. Jasper waited at the front door, eyes on Alice's happy face, but his smile faltered when he spotted Edward and me. His chest expanded with a deep breath, and his gaze fixed determinedly back on Alice as his mouth and nose twitched.

"I take it things went well?" he asked politely, but his gaze flickered to Edward again briefly. "All sorts of things?"

Edward took my arm and steered me inside with a dark look for his brother. We walked into the great room, and he dragged me to a halt when he saw Emmett and Rosalie sitting on the sofa in front of the giant television. Emmett grinned and waved, but then jerked back, his eyes going wide and nostrils flaring.

"Holy shit, you guys smell." He barely flinched when Rosalie smacked him, but his eyes narrowed and gleamed. "I take back everything I ever said about your problems getting laid. Well, most of them. She's a vampire right and proper now, isn't she? You didn't waste any time. So, Bella, come sit down next to your new favorite brother Emmett and tell me all about it."

"Twelve year old," Edward muttered as we swept past.

Emmett stared to laugh, but sucked in a sharp breath, closing his eyes and filling his lungs. "Rose."

"Upstairs. Now," she demanded, and they disappeared.

I glanced at Edward's stoic face and took a sniff at my shoulder as he hustled me toward the kitchen. His hand lingered in the small of my back, but drifted down the caress the curve of my ass, and Jasper peeled off for the stairs.

"I'm out," he called. "Alice, come upstairs as soon as you're done."

Everyone acted like we stunk or something. I inhaled again, but didn't smell anything but Edward all over me, and he smelled pretty damn good. Amazing, in fact. My gaze fastened on his neck as venom pooled in my mouth, wanting his, to give him mine, and Jasper's muttered oath drifted through the house. The sound was followed by the bang of a window opening, a body landing on the ground, and Jasper's running footsteps disappeared into the forest surrounding the house.

"You sure know how to clear a room," Alice teased, but she threw her arms around Edward and then me. "I can't tell you how excited I am this is going to work. Thank you, Bella. Thank you for saving my brother."

"She hasn't saved me yet," Edward muttered, but he smiled at me over Alice's dark head.

Carlisle and Esme entered the kitchen, and Alice swept them up in an embrace. "It's going to work. I've seen it. After all these years, Bella was the key in more way than we realized."

Relief shone bright on both their faces, and Esme reached out for Edward's hand before pulling him into a hug.

"I knew it," she breathed, rocking him. "I knew something would come up. We couldn't lose you. We just couldn't."

"What have you seen, Alice?" Carlisle asked.

"I see the two of them walking into the Volturi's chambers in Volterra, Bella heading straight for Jane and Alec, Edward for Aro, Caius, and Marcus. Five headless bodies, and then…" Her gaze shot to Edward's filled with surprise and frustration, but he just returned the look with a slightly arched brow. "And then I see Edward still has some decisions to make."

"But they're both okay." Esme moved back to Carlisle and clasped his hand, sighing with relief when Alice nodded.

"We just walk in there?" I asked, scrutinizing Edward's expression, and he smiled at me with an innocent blandness I didn't buy for a second. "No one thinks that's weird that we show up in Volterra?"

"They're expecting you." Alice delivered that alarming news with a smug grin. "Aro will actually invite you there. Welcome you. He's fairly bursting at the seams with curiosity."

"Curiosity? Why?"

"He's pleased Edward changed you, such a high ranking human within the Institute."

"Not much goes on at the Institute without Aro's knowledge," Carlisle told me. "But to get first hand information, a personal account, will have him eager to meet you, Bella."

"I don't remember much." I rubbed my forehead, struggling to focus on my fading human memories. "I made notes, though, right? My computer. I imagine that was lost in the accident."

I didn't quite recall being in an accident, but I remembered Alice telling me I'd trashed my car while trying to get somewhere safe to change.

"I brought it," Edward murmured. "It survived the wreck."

He disappeared but returned seconds later, holding my laptop. I opened it on the counter and skimmed through the files.

"There is quite a bit of information. I'm sure we can find something to entice Aro."

I read quickly through my months of interviews and study of Edward. Admiration swelled my head and heart at his clever game and the brilliance of his manipulations. I'd been furious with him, but that seemed more clinical knowledge rather than actual emotion. He still annoyed me, no doubt often would with his attitude and obnoxiousness, but the strong and undeniable connection between us had been forged in fire and would never be broken. According to my notes, I had sensed it even as a weak human and been drawn to him despite my professional ethics, experience, and knowledge. I couldn't reconcile the human he'd toyed with over those weeks with the being I had become. Contempt and superiority washed away any pity that lingered for the naïve woman I'd been.

Vampires ate people, after all. The natural order of things—survival of the fittest. Which brought to mind a question.

"If the Volturi know about the Institute, why do they allow it to continue? Capturing vampires and studying them?"

"Well, first of all, it amuses them. You haven't been a vampire long enough to understand how awful the boredom can get. Any distraction or challenge is usually welcome." Carlisle cast a sidelong, reproving glance at Edward, who just smirked. "Second, the Volturi use it to neutralize or eliminate troublesome vampires. Faulty ones."

"Vampires can be faulty?" I examined each perfect specimen before me and then worried about myself.

Carlisle exchanged another glance with Edward. "Yes. Edward started to explain the process and the difference between changing and becoming a vampire?"

"Um. Kind of." I recalled what had distracted me from that conversation—uncontrollable lust—and how he had deliberately fanned that flame. Edward received another critical look.

"Venom transforms a human into a vampire, but it doesn't complete the process, not totally, until more is consumed after the initial change. That's what sets and solidifies the alterations. Until then, the being is a vampire, but a weak one. Too many human traits cling to it. A vampire in that incomplete state is a liability to others and itself, being both mentally and physically unstable. Those are the vampires the Institute captured, with very few exceptions."

"So, one bite injects venom for the change to start, but more is needed to complete the process. Fascinating."

"Or more than one bite, depending on how much venom got injected the first time. Like with you and Edward."

"Me and Edward? What do you mean?" I glanced back and forth between Carlisle's chagrined face and Edward's forbidding one.

"The first bite—when I bit you there at the Institute, in the cell—I had no intention of changing you. Your body didn't get enough venom, and the drug you drank to knock me out counteracted some of what you did get. You would have lingered in the between, burning, suffering, agonizing, if I didn't give you more. So I did." He shrugged, his thumb rubbing back and forth over the faint scar on my wrist. "You'd spilled so much blood, on you, all over the car after you drove off the road. I didn't have much time. So, I bit you, injected you, at every major vein I could access and then brought you here."

"You didn't want me to suffer," I murmured.

"I didn't want you to be a liability." But he smiled and squeezed my hand, which for Edward was as good as standing on the rooftop and shouting his love.

"Does it have to be the original biter—the sire—to be the source of the secondary venom intake?" I asked Carlisle.

Edward smacked his forehead with his free hand and rubbed his face in exasperation of my continued questions. I just sank my nails into the base of his thumb hard enough to get a wince.

"No. That happens quite rarely, as a matter of fact. Perhaps to get a wider exposure to different venoms, maybe that makes the vampire stronger, I'm not sure. Interesting, now that I think about it." He and I shared a meaningful moment of kindred scientific spirits. "But when it does, it creates a strong bond between the two vampires. Like us, for instance. I changed everyone except Alice and Jasper—but they're kind of their own interesting little subject—and I'm the source of the additional venom. That bond is what keeps us together as a coven. A family."

"That's not all," Esme interjected. "It's you, Carlisle. You keep us together. Your own unique talent."

"Maybe so," he allowed with a smile. "But it also has to do with the fact I was one of those flawed vampires."

"What?" I started with wide-eyed surprise.

Carlisle shrugged. "My sire didn't stick around, and after my change, I didn't either. I hid, horrified at what I'd become, neither fully human nor completely vampire, for years."

"Hundreds of them," Edward supplied. "Until he changed me. I fought him a lot those first few years. We both had plenty of opportunity to ingest venom from bite wounds. The damage had already been done, on his part, at least. He's still disgustingly compassionate when it comes to humans. Eating them, especially."

"I just like to explore other alternatives, especially if the two species have to learn to live together."

"Vampires survived in the Institute on animal blood." I recalled what I read in my notes more than I actually remembered from experience.

"Not well, and not for long," Edward told me with a life of one brow. "Carlisle was very intrigued by that possibility, but his studies found it was similar to crossing human and animal blood. Humans can't survive with a transfusion of animal blood, and neither can vampires. Maybe for a little while, but then the body rejects it."

"Vampires seemed to survive at the Institute, didn't they?"

"Seemed," he emphasized. "When you disposed of them, what was the most common reason?"

I struggled to remember, but again, the reasons in my research notes, my studies, were what I recalled instead of the actual human events. "Because they'd shut down. Mentally and physically. They thought it was because of captivity, that vampires don't adjust well."

"They don't," Edward said curtly. "But it's the blood source, as well. We can survive longer than humans on animal blood, but eventually our body starts breaking down. Trying to eat itself."

He shivered. "That was horrible. The absolute worst part about being there. Vampires need human blood to survive, but it's more than that. We need to hunt."

Carlisle tipped his head back and forth. "We'll see. I imagine your thoughts on hunting humans hasn't changed now that we know you're not going to die?"

My eyes narrowed on Edward's carefully blank face as his words back in the forest suddenly made sense. "You didn't think your opinion mattered because you didn't expect to be around to care."

"I wouldn't have, now would I? If I'd been gone."

I shook my head in exasperation with him, not for the first time, and definitely not for the last. "And now? Now that you're going to be around?"

"I still don't agree, but I'll still play along. For now."

"What do you mean, for now? What's going through that clever little brain of yours?"

He shrugged, and I wanted to kiss that damned smirk right off his gorgeous face. The little monster had something brewing, if his too casual smile and Alice's warning glares were any indication.

"How do you see both species surviving if we don't come up with some sort of solution?" Carlisle asked. "Even when Aro is gone, we'll always be at war. Once humans figure out there are more of us than they suspect, that we aren't almost extinct, they'll have an Uprising of their own."

Edward shrugged again. "For all the good it will do them. They can't fight us. That's why I have to stop the vampire Uprising and make sure it never happens again. What do you think humans would choose when faced with extinction? To be wiped off the face of the earth or submit to a far superior species for a chance at continuing survival?"

"Blood slaves? Is that what you're talking about?"

"If that's what it takes for us to survive. All of us—humans and vampires."

"If we can feed on their blood without killing them—bagged, stored blood—both races might have a future. We could continue on as we have."

Edward shook his head doubtfully. "It's a delicate balance and not in vampire or human natures to maintain it. We're both too selfish, each considering our race to be the rightful, dominant one. With two opposing forces programmed like that at such a basic level… No. I don't think we can continue on like that for long. But, as I said. I was outvoted, so I guess we'll see. I'm willing to wait and see which species breaks first. Should make for good entertainment after the little problem with the Volturi eradicating both humans and vampires no longer takes up all my time."

"Didn't Edward say you stayed with the Volturi for a while?" I asked Carlisle. "Didn't they know you weren't all the way changed?"

"Yes. Hiding in plain sight. Oh, Aro knew, of course. He knows everything. He can read every thought, every memory you've ever had with a touch of his finger. But I was amusing and intriguing, so they allowed my existence and even my presence in their court. They won't be able to resist having you come visit, Bella."

"Curiosity killed the cat, or so the saying goes." Edward said. "And we'll be one great big curiosity. Not that Bella isn't full of it all the time, but you know what I mean."

"Full of what, exactly, Edward? What am I full of?" I turned in him with a mock scowl, and his red eyes gleamed with playful intent.

"Me," he said succinctly. "Later, Carlisle."

I pouted as he backed me through the great room and toward the stairs. "Not enough, Edward. Not anywhere near full enough."

He picked me up and kissed me, flying up the stairs as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I bounced on the bed I'd destroyed after I woke from the change as he stood at the foot, grinning fiendishly with his hands on his hips, more handsome and compelling than any being had a right to be. I sat and scooted to the edge of the mattress.

"I want more," I purred. "More venom. More sex. More you. Why don't we kill three birds with one stone?"

I grabbed him through his jeans, caressing roughly and eliciting a groan before I pulled the buttons on his fly open and sank to the floor on my knees.

"Stone is just about right," I said with great satisfaction, stroking his hard, marble length.

I loved having power and control over this strongest of beings, him helpless and begging and incoherent as I covered him in wet, sucking heat. I gulped greedily as he burst in copious, sustaining surges down my throat, and then I was on my back and he returned the favor. We rolled and thrust, wriggled and rocked, lay in each other's arms soothing and then enticing all night long.

He covered me, filled me with venom. Again. Still. Always.

Forever.

The next morning, vampires wandered down the stairs with clothing in various states of disarray and hair completely wrecked.

"Yeehaw," Emmett mumbled faintly, while Alice walked straight up to Edward and started smacking his shoulders.

She and Jasper appeared particularly tousled.

"Next time you make a decision like that about the sofa in your room—and the balcony railing, what the hell were you thinking?—give me some warning first, okay? Those are mental images no sister wants to see. Ever."

"Or feelings any brother wants to experience." Jasper squeezed his eyes shut. "Holy shit, you two."

"Maybe we need a honeymoon," Edward swaggered over and kissed my forehead amid protests and groans from the others. "Away from all the prying eyes, ears, and minds. Maybe Esme's island near Rio."

"Italy sounds like a perfect place for a romantic getaway," I suggested. "Seeing as how we'll be there anyway."

"Smart, sexy, and practical. I see the beginning of a beautiful relationship." His kissed me again, biting my lip before soothing away the stinging wound and venom with his tongue and a moan that was echoed around the room.

"Just got the e-mail from Aro," Carlisle informed us, walking into the great room with his blond hair sticking straight up in the back and Esme's shirt tangled around his ankle. "He says he's delighted that you'd ask for an audience and can't wait to meet Bella."

"I can't wait for Bella to meet him. He won't have any idea what hit him. And baby's all mine."

"Jackass," I laughed, the sound muffled against his mouth as he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.

"Ew, no," Alice cried. "Edward! Not the hood of my car!"


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

We left for Italy later that day, seeing no point in wasting any more time. Armed with Edward's astoundingly brilliant plan of "You go right, I'll go left, and let's meet in the middle," we set out to bring the reign of the existing Volturi leadership to an abrupt and anti-climactic end, just as Alice had envisioned. Aro had anticipated a visit ever since Edward allowed himself to be captured by the Institute, fully expecting an accounting of the personnel and facility. He couldn't wait to hear a first hand report, as he was delighted with Edward's enterprise and forethought to change such a high-ranking member of the vampires' enemy camp.

They never suspected a thing.

A guard led us to his own doom, escorting Edward and me to the main chamber under the ancient city of Volterra where Aro, Caius, and Marcus held court. Edward grabbed the guard's arms, and I tore his head off before opening the huge wooden doors and walking confidently into the chamber—directly toward Jane. Edward had described her to me, and really, I couldn't miss the tiny blond girl standing next to an equally small boy near the raised center dais. A fleeting expression of surprise made her appear even younger before a calculating smile revealed the monster lurking behind guileless, childlike features. Shock opened her baby reds wide when her ability had no effect on me, and she grabbed her brother's hand as I swept toward them with a laugh. With the talent to shield myself and newborn strength, and Edward's singer-enhanced abilities, it was just that easy.

Five heads met in the center of the room over the drain, the two I'd wrenched off Jane and Alec, the three Edward had liberated from the triumvirate of Volturi leaders. After a second, three more joined the pile—the bodyguards. I sent a scowl at Edward for showing off, but pride warmed my cold heart.

My little overachiever.

He stood with hands on his hips and surveyed the crowd of cowering vampires gathered in the hall. Well, most of them cowered.

A large guard exchanged a look with a looming circle of six others wearing the same insignia. Edward's fingers twitched, motioning me closer, and I experienced a brief moment of trepidation. Had Alice's visions failed after all? Could even Edward take on all seven hulking, experienced fighters of the Volturi Guard? I started to slide into a crouch but froze with surprise at the hefty vampire's next move. He met Edward's direct gaze as he slowly dropped to one knee, placing fist to forehead and touching chin to chest. Edward grunted, the sound one of pleased surprise, and we both glanced around as the other guards dropped to imitate the pose. A loud rustling filled the cavernous dome as all the vampires suddenly knelt as well, and we gazed out over a sea of prostrate forms and bowed heads.

_What the hell?_ I mouthed, and he shrugged, looking suspiciously complacent.

_Of course._ He'd seen Alice's visions, had expected the reaction, the brat. I recalled her warning glare and cryptic comment about him having more decisions to make, but I knew better. I knew _him_ better. He'd made his decision the minute he realized he wasn't going to die at the hands of the Volturi Guard. I narrowed my eyes, and he just grinned with a shrug. The body at his feet—Aro? Caius?—flopped over at a nudge from his toe, and he bent to strip the long, dark cloak of office from the armless, headless corpse.

"Well. I guess that ends Aro's plans. The next Uprising will be on my terms. Burn this. Immediately." He indicated the carnage strewn across the stone floor, and the guards jumped to do his bidding.

Edward stalked gracefully to the shallow steps, mounting them slowly and with great effect, swirling the cloak around his broad shoulders. The words to Dylan's "Times They Are A Changin" filled the room in his deep baritone, and he paused in front of the center throne before turning to appraise the display of obsequiousness spread out before him. He made great show of smoothing the collar of the cloak, sweeping the tails out of the way as he sat in the ornate seat of ancient power and supremacy. Nothing had ever fit him better.

"My love," he murmured, red eyes gleaming, one long-fingered hand extended in my direction. "Won't you join me?"

I'd join him anywhere. Whatever his clever, conniving brain came up with—using humans as blood-slaves or living in harmony, it didn't matter to me. Our existence together, that was the landscape. Everything else was just details.

Long live the king.

**END PART II**

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**Edward hasn't shared his plans for the Uprising with me *yet*, but I imagine they're dastardly. When he does, I'll definitely let you know.**

**Thank you so much for reading and for the comments and reviews, the recs and conversation.**

**As always, thanks to SunKing and Sarahsumbrella for their beta and support. SunKing has some fluffies on her profile she's written recently if you'd like to check them out.**

**Some goodies I've read:**

**My Sweet Variable by LifeInTheSnow - teenage assassins and great details. I enjoy her stories.**

**Nightfall by MySlashyFriend - gave me serious alternate-Twilight-world happies. What if Bella was a boy? Lovely canon Edward.**


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